The 76th Hunger Games
by Dreamwriter116
Summary: Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games! 24 tributes will be sent into the games,but only one will make it through the tale of blood,betrayl,and romance to become the victor.Will it be you? Let the Games Begin!
1. Chapter 1: Submit your Tribute sheet

**Hey everyone! This is another one of those submit your own tributes stories. Let me fill you in on what is has happened. Katiness and Peter have gotten away with their act and were married back in district Quarter Quell tributes were not drawn from the victors, but instead they made twice the number of tributes go to the games. There was no rebellion. **

So here is what is going to happen. To submit your tribute, please fill out the list below, the more detail the better! You can submit up to two tributes in the games, one male, and one female, no more than that. Once I have decided on the tributes I will post a list of the tributes. Once you see that your tribute has been accepted, please take a look at the replies to this story and decided who you want your tribute to ally with. Please check with the author of that character /characters first (private message them), make sure their ok with your alliance, and if you want to be in an alliance with more than one person, please talk to them and make sure their all ok with teaming up. Also if you are in an alliance, please put the preferred place where they team up, such as at training, in cornucopia, or afterwards middle/end of game. Once you have got it worked out, PM me! If you have any other suggestions for the alliance, please include that too. If at any point in the game you want to break your alliance and join a new one, repeat the process above and let me know!

Once we have all the tribute spots filled and you have decided on your alliances, then the story will begin with the reapings. I will do one district for each chapter. Once we get to where the tributes score training scores, then I will post a list of the tributes and their scores and I will be looking for sponsors for your tribute(I will get more into how the sponsors and gifts will be spread out later) If you have a tribute in the games, you may not sponsor.

**Ok I think that is pretty much it, sorry it was so long, and here's the list!:**

Name:

Gender:

District: First choice- second choice(if your first choice district isn't available)

Apperance:

Personality:

Family: (please include description of appearance AND personality)

History:

Friends: (please include description AND personality)

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Weapon of choice:

Token and where he/she got it and why it is important to them:

Reaping outfit:

Chariot outfit:

Interview outfit:

What do they do in their private showing with the gamemakers:

What is their score: (note I want a suggestion on what you think their score should be, I may or may not use it, but suggestions help!)

Interview angle:

How do they talk:

How do they interact with adults:

Are they pro or against capital:

How do they act at home:

How do they act at school:

How do they act with friends:

How do people who don't know them see them:

Are they in any relationships: (please give details!)

Are they open to alliances: (if they are, please follow the alliance process above. If they are going to be a career, state it here, and you do not have to ask anyone about alliances, the career alliances are going to be organized by me)

Are they open to relationships in arena: (If so, please do the alliance process above!)

Extras: If I missed anything you want to add, put it here!

Extras: (optional for you, but helps me write faster if you awnser this!)

Stylist : Apperance AND personality (unless your district 12, then you'll have peeta and Katiness)

Mentor: Apperance AND Personality AND how they won, when

Arena Ideas:

Ok thanks for listening and answering this form, Private message me if you have any questions! My example tribute is below if you need it! Please note that sucking up is ok, but it will not affect your tributes odds of winning ;P Enjoy, and Happy Hunger Games!

Name: Storm Stardepth (stormy)  
Gender: Female  
Age: 16  
District: 11  
Apperance: (5'5) She has a slim build, but not lankthy. Her skin is slightly tan, but she is concidered pale for her distrect. She has bright deep blue eyes, the color of the ocean, so not dark, but more neon blue. She has pale pink lips and high cheekbones,giving her a shadowy apperance. Her hair is long, coming down to her stomach, and black, and she never wears it up. She has long fingers, and small hands and feet. She has a very shadowy look about her. Her apperances come mostly from her mother, but she has her father's eyes.  
Personality: Storm seems shy,but this is mostly because she is not very trusting. She is quick to act for most things, but when it comes to trusting people she gives it a lot of thought. If she is betrayed, then she will never trust that person again, this has to do with her background. She has a sharp voice, bold when she does speak, not soft like it would seem. She is very smart and has quick reflexes. She tends to have a frowning look on her face, as though she is deep in thought, but her eyes show her true emotion. She can be very sly, and when she does have a plan for something, she tends to have a knowing smirk and a teasing look in her is a very respectful to her parents and elders, but not to the peacekeepers or to any capital sideing people. She is somewhat rebelious, but not many know about this side of her. She is never caught,doing anything wrong, because she is careful and quick. She doesn't like to let a lot of people in,and it takes a while to earn her trust, but when she does let people in, she shares everything, everything except about her family. She would never backstab the people she truely cares about, but she may fool them and leave them or do somthing that seems cruel if it is to protect them and keep them alive. She will never leave her friends out to die,and she will stop at nothing to save them even if it means getting killed in the process. She is very protective.  
Family: Father: Sam Stardepth (deseased)  
Mother:Recia Stardepth (deceased)  
Brothers:John (29) like his father. Phonix Stardepth (27) tall, slim but muscular and tan. Shaggy black hair and green eyes like his mom.  
Sammy Stardepth (8) looks like Phonix  
Sisters: Rachel (26)tall with long brown hair and green eyes. High cheeckbone and slim build, but more foxy apperance about her.  
Rose(9) Slim and blue eyes like Storm, with long black hair, but has a rosy innocent apperance, unlike her sister.  
Friends:Ronald Grepper (17) is tall with shaggy black hair, muscular build and hasel eyes. Funny and outgoing.  
Leia (16) 5'5 and slim, long blonde hair and deep blue eyes, high cheeckbone and sharp chin. She is outgoing but is a good girl and doesnt like trouble, but will help her friend with whatever she is doing, even if she disagrees.  
History: Her parents died when she was eight. Her mother tried to sneak some apples back from the feilds and was caught and sentenced to death. Father was out hunting at the time and came back and found his wife dead. He ragefully went on a rampage killing 3 peacekeepers in the process before he was shot and 's oldest brother was just old enough to legally become their gaurdian, so he raised Storm and her younger siblings. He taught Storm how to hunt when she was ten, and violet quickly picked up the ways of sneaking around and quick reacting. She as very close to him, so when he betrayed them and left the family, she shut down and was never very open again. Phonix and Rachel took over raising the younger kids.  
Strength: She is very fast, and can hide and sneak around very well. She can jump far, and her legs are very strong from running back and forth carrying supplies and messages through the feilds of her distrect. She appears weak, but she is stronger than she looks. She is quick thinking and reacting, making her very handy with a knife.  
Weaknesses: She does not have a lot of arm strengh,and will do unrationall things if one of her friends are in danger.  
Weapon of choice: Knife  
Token: A leather strap braclet. it was her brother,John's, he left it behind when he deserted their family to fend for himself. Even though he deserted them, she still loves him, though she wont admit it. He was her best friend, she didnt meet her current friends until after he left, and she trusted and depended on him completly. She wears his braclet because it reminds her of him,she still loves him andthats why she wears it, though she doesnt quite admitt that herself.  
Reaping outfit: Simple dark red dress of her sister's, her hair has one red flower in it, her brother's bracelet, and her mother's locket.  
Chariot outfit: army camoflauge cargo pants and a black tank top  
Interveiw outfit: Long and slimming dark blue,low dipped neckline. her hair is straightened, and left slightly dipping and covering her face, for a sneaky sexy look. Her eyes are lined in black with dark blue eye shadow, and deep red ligstick. She wears long dangly saphire earrings and a long diamond necklas. She wears high heels.

What does he/she show the gamemakers: slipping inbetween the shadows and knifeing dummies

Score:10

How do they talk: Sharply and boldly when she does speak, she means what she says.  
Does she cuss: no

Pro or against capital:against  
How does she interact with adults: She respects her elders, but not government officals, she tends to speak bolder and more rebellious to them, but not so much she gets into a lot of trouble.  
What is she like at school: She keeps to herself and her two best friends. She is observant of others but doesnt interact much with them  
At home: She cares for her younger siblings, talks with her sister, and helps her brother still keeps to herself, but not as much, she is more outgoing, expecially with the little ones.  
With her friends: She laughs and jokes around when they act silly, but she is still sulken and thinking a lot. Though she speaks her thoughts a lot to them and gets them into a lot of trouble at times, but always gets them out of it too.

With friends: she is open and honest

How do people who don't know her view her: sulken and quiet, some guys see her as hot, but they give up after a while when she doesn't show interest to them

Any relationships: no, she is open but doesn't want to be hurt, so she shrugs them of at first, is more open if they are persistant

Aliiances: yes, but no careers


	2. Chapter 2: List for your reference

Forgot to add this, so here's for your reference:

District one – luxury items

District two – electronics

District three-gems and precious metals

District four- fishing/sea related stuff

District five-Factories

District six-scientific researchers

District seven- Lumber

District eight- textiles

District nine- electricity

District ten-livestock

District eleven-agriculture

District twelve-coal


	3. Chapter 3:Final Tribute List

**Hey everyone! This is the final tribute list, tribute pooling is officially closed! So here's how it's going to work. You must submit one tribute alliance list for every tribute you have (unless you are districts 1-4, explained below) Take a look at the reviews and see which tributes you want to pair up with. PM the creator of that character and see if they want to team up with you too. If you want to be in with multiple people, make sure everyone is ok with it. Then work out where they meet/team up (training, cornucopia,middle,end,) When you've done that, PM me the information! If you want your tribute to be in a relationship, please do the same thing. Any other information you want to add about your Alliance/relationship, please add it onto your Alliance list PM to me. If you want your tribute to be in with the careers and you are not in districts 1-4, just PM me the name of your tribute and the word "careers" and when they get in with them, I'll take it from there.**

**Tributes in district 1-4: These are the career districts, so you are automatically placed in with the careers, so you do not need to PM anyone about teaming up. If you do not want to be in with the careers, just follow the process above. If you want to leave the careers at any point in the game, PM me and I'll work it out.**

**I have one final question I need everyone to answer, just tack it onto your alliance PM,(this question does not apply to careers, careers automatically participate in Cornucopia) but will your tribute participate in Cornucopia? If so, how? Like does he/she grab one and run, go for good stuff, try to kill people ect.? Since it is the bloodbath, some tributes will die, even if they skip cornucopia and run, they still may end up getting hit and die during the bloodbath, so it's up to you where you want to place your tribute! **

**I will start to post the reapings in two days, all your alliances must be in by the end of next week or I will pick your alliances for you. I will be putting sponsor information out later while everyone is getting their alliances worked out, so we can start getting your tribute sponsors! To keep things moving, I will continue to write/post the story while we are looking for sponsors. Thank you for your cooperation, And Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!**

**District One:** Male-Julian Devereux (dancegurl)

Female- Vivienne "Vive" Cameron (dancegurl)

**District Two:** Male- Lucius "Luc" Graystone (sleetinthesummer)

Female- Daphine "Day" Ryte (demiblood22)

**District Three:** Male- Scott Igill (Kennelle)

Female-Samantha Agri (Kennelle)

**District Four:** Male-Zander Lacerta (Dramione4evs)

Female- Bethany Bray (FlamingSapphires)

**District Five:** Male-Coby Reuben (Penelope Wendy Bing)

Female-Nan Wetherall (turq8)

**District Six:** Male-Franz Zancaster (Dramione4evs)

Female- Velvet Springs (abby hale is team Salvatore)

**District Seven:** Male-Ratherly 'Rat' Donnikan (sleetinthesummer)

Female- Skye Windell (yume no Isubasa)

**District Eight:** Male-Feat "Tork" Torklye (AnthonyisMYsquirrel)

Female-Roybn Karmer (fifidear)

**District Nine:** Male-Blaze McCormac (ILoveAnimals12)

Female- Star Tearmorre (booksarecool)

**District Ten:** Male- Aden Starr (demiblood22)

Female-Fawna Meadows (cloudyNK)

**District Eleven:** Male- Drew Niome (Dramione4evs)

Female- Adryana Steel (Dramione4evs)

**District Twelve:** Male-Shiloh Porter (TheRescuer2)

Female-Katherine Cassidy (kattywriter111)


	4. SPONSOR SHEET

Hey Everyone! This is where you can sign up to be a sponsor for tributes in the Hunger Games! So here's how it's going to work.

**SPONSERING:**

you sponsor any tributes you created (with the exception mentioned in district 3 reapings that involves dancegurl and Meanzombiequeen)

**SPONSOR POINTS:**

Then next step is sponsor points. Every sponsor starts out with 3 points. Sponsor points can buy you:

3 points - Small Items: The basics, such as bread, water, rope, matches, bandages ect.

5 points - Medium Items: small weapons, basic first aid kit (burn cream, pain relievers, disinfectants),

Tools, ect.

10 points - Large Items: Specific medical items(expensive medicine, brace, anti-venom) sleeping bag,

New clothing, large weapons (bow, ax, sword,) tent, large meals, ect.

**HOW TO EARN SPONSOR POINTS:**

Lol, this system here might look familiar, that's because I used the basic format of flooridiot12's sponsor format from the 89th Hunger games for how to earn points! I thought it was brilliant, so I got permission to use it, and touched it up a little. The using your sponsor points section below is my own creation though ;P

At the beginning or end of each chapter I will have Sponsor questions. The questions will be in one of a few categories such as

1. Things about the Hunger games series/author – Ex. When does Mockingjay come out?

2. Questions about my story- ex: What metaphor did I use in - POV?

3. Participation – ex. create an outfit for a district opening ceremony

4. Flashback – ex. What is - referring to when he talks about his little sister?

All you have to do is PM me your answer to the question, and if your right, I will award you the points it says that the question is worth! I will be updating sponsor points on this page as often as I can. To see how many points you have, find your name below and look at the number next to it!

**HOW TO USE SPONSOR POINTS:**

Once the games begin and the tributes are in the arena, you will get opportunities to send your tribute items. As you read, you may see something that looks like this to the side a txt:

*SPONSOR OPP*

This means that the sponsor of whoever's POV I am in when they see this, has a sponsor opportunity! Something has happened to your tribute that you can choose to send an item for such as:

**Ex. Your tribute is bit by a snake – they may need "Anti-venom" **

they may not say it directly, maybe they just are feeling an itch on their leg, it could be something that needs your attention, it may not, so be careful and choose wisely! Your decisions may affect the outcome of your tribute!

To use your Sponsor OPP, just PM me what you want to send your tribute. If you have the points, I will let the item through next time I write about your tribute. If not, I will reply "INVALID" Be quick in your choice, if I write and post another chapter about your tribute before you reply to take the OPP, then the item will not be let through to your tribute.

Ok, that is it, here is the list below of the tributes you can sponsor, I will put your name next to your choice! Please send 1 choice, 2 choice, and 3 choice in case your tribute is already taken! Thanks again, and Happy Hunger Games!

**District One:** Julian Devereux SPONSOR: **dancegurl **- 3 points

Vivienne "Vive" Cameron SPONSOR: **MeanZombieQueen **- 12 points

**District Two:** Lucius "Luc" Graystone SPONSOR: **sleetinthesummer** - 12 points

Daphine "Day" Ryte SPONSOR: **Demiblood22 **- 15 points

**District Three:** Scott Igill SPONSOR: **kennelle** - 5 points

Samantha Agri SPONSOR: **Kennelle** - 4 points

**District Four:** Zander Lacerta SPONSOR: **Dramione4evs** - 3 points

Bethany Bray SPONSOR:** FlamingSapphires** - 3 points

**District Five:** Coby Reuben SPONSOR: **Penelopy Windy Bing **- 9 1/2 points

Nan Wetherall SPONSOR:** Turq8 **- 5 points

**District Six:** Franz Zancaster SPONSOR: **Dramione4evs** - 4 points

Velvet Springs SPONSOR: **abby hale is team salvador **- 4 points

**District Seven:** Ratherly 'Rat' Donnikan SPONSOR: **sleetinthesummer** - 12 points

Skye Windell SPONSOR: **yume no Isubasa **- 3 points

**District Eight:** Feat "Tork" Torklye SPONSOR: **AnthonyisMYsquirll** - 11 points

Roybn Karmer SPONSOR: **fifidear** - 3 points

**District Nine:** Blaze McCormac SPONSOR: **ILoveAnimals12** - 3 points

Star Tearmorre SPONSOR: **booksarecool **- 3 points

**District Ten:** Aden Starr SPONSOR: **Demiblood22** - 15 points

Fawna Meadows SPONSOR: **Cloudy-TheNightMareQueen** - 4 points

**District Eleven:** Drew Niome SPONSOR: **Dramione4evs** - 4 points

Adryana Steel SPONSOR: **Dramione4evs** - 4 points

**District Twelve:** Shiloh Porter SPONSOR: **TheRescuer2** - 13 points

Katherine Cassidy SPONSOR: **Kattywriter111** - 9 points


	5. District One Reapings

**Hey everyone! I am going to be starting the reapings, one district per chapter. All of them are going to be pretty long, but I want everyone to get a chance to know the characters before the games begin. Also, I REALLY need everyone to start working on alliances and PM me about it, I have a few people who have already told me to do it for them, but I'm letting you know, The more alliances I have to work out, the slower the games are going to go up! So please, if you haven't already, start working them out!**

**This chapter features Vivienne Cameron and Julian Devereux both created by dancegurl. I have to say in the beginning of Vivienne Cameron, I started with this crazy idea and decided to see how it went, naturally expecting a train wreck, but it worked out surprisingly well! Julian Devereux was a little bit easier to write in perspective of, considering he is like one of your typical careers, he actually reminds me a little bit of Cato ;P I hope you enjoy district one reapings, and I'd love to hear what you think!**

**District One:**

**Vivienne Cameron-**

I see her. She's there, just standing. Her long blonde hair is draped carefully around her shoulders, and her blue eyes are shining with determination. She is still in her dress, the strapless red one with long embroidered hem. Where do I know that dress? I can't remember. All I know is that she is there, standing in front of me once again, my sister, Bree. "Bree! Bree! Come here, it's me!" I shout to her, but she doesn't respond. I try to run to her, but I am stuck to the spot. Bree begins to walk away. "No wait!" I scream, frantically tugging at my leg trying to get it to move. Luckily Bree hears me and turns around. Then she looked into my eyes and gave me a small teasing smile.

That's when it hits me. That dress, that dress was her reaping dress. As soon as that thought pops in my head, our surroundings begin to change. The whole room begins to spin and when it stops, we are standing in the town square. Bree is up on stage and I am back in the crowd of people. Bree is staring at me. She hops off the stage and runs over to me for the first time, though no one in the square seems to notice. When she gets to me, she picks me and pulls me into a hug, swinging me around. "I'll be back, I promise. I'll win these games." She whispers in my ear. "I'm coming home, home, home….."Then everything goes black. Bree is gone, and I am once again reminded, Bree is dead. Then I wake up.

I sit up in bed, my heart still racing from my dream. It all felt so real, scarily real. But it couldn't have been real. Bree is dead. She died three years ago in the games. Thinking of Bree makes me sad, so I try to put her out of my mind for now. Today is the reaping. Slowly I yawn and get up out of bed, and make my way to the kitchen for breakfast. I find my mother and father already there at the table. "Good morning mother, good morning father," I say sweetly. "Good morning dear," my mother replies. "Do you want me to make you something?" she asks. "Sure," I reply. My mother gets up and sets her coffee down to go cook me something to eat and I go sit down next to my father.

My father is absorbed in the newspaper, so I wait quietly for my mom to fix my breakfast. I want to get ready in a hurry so that I can go see my friend Daisy before the reapings. My mom comes over and sets a plate of pastry, eggs, and bacon in front of me. "Thanks mother," I say, digging into the food. My mother sits down next to me and smiles. "Your welcome. So honey, how are you feeling?" she asks. "I'm good," I reply. "Are you nervous about the reapings?" she asks. I shrug because honestly, I don't know. I've been trained all my life for the games, but I have a perfect life here so I can't hardly image leaving it for the games. "She'll be fine," my father said, looking up from his paper. "After all, she's trained well, and if I can win the games then so can she." It's odd for them to be talking about me like this. I've had three years of it, but I still haven't gotten use to it. But this was the first year it may actually apply. This is my first reaping.

When I finish eating, my mother hurries into my bathroom to start up my bath. The water is nice, and I scrub up with my sweet soaps and perfumes. As soon as I get out of the tub, I go to my room to get the reaping outfit we bought for me, just to find it has already been laid out on my bed. I slip on the cream colored dress just before my mother walks in the door. "You look lovely dear," she says with a smile. Then she grabs my hairbrush and begins to part and brush my hair. It has already begun to dry, so my hair is curling up into its bouncy curls. She takes me into her room and applies some pink lip gloss and a touch of blush to my face.

When she is all done helping me, she sends me back to my room until it is time to go. I hurry to grab my locket. It is in the shape of a heart, with a picture of me and Bree on the inside. It use to be Bree's, and it would probably be gone right now if she hadn't insisted I had it before she left. My mother calls me out to the living room when it is time to go, and we rush to the town square."Good luck," my father tells me. "Good luck, sweetie," my mother says to me. Then I am paraded to my section. No more sitting with my parents this year. This year, I must watch the reaping with other twelve year olds. Some look nervous, others look excited or anxious. Me, I look for my best friend. I can't seem to find her.

Suddenly, I get a tap on my shoulder and I spin around. Standing there is a small girl with tan skin and long glossy brown hair and big brown eyes. I would know her anywhere. "Daisy!" I exclaim, giving her a huge hug. She laughs. "Hey Vivienne," she says. "I'm so glad to see you!" "Me too," I reply. "This is so weird isn't it, Vive?" she exclaims. I nod. Weird is right. I can't wait for it to be over; Daisy and I are planning on having a slumber party tonight. Sure enough, the mayor steps up on stage to begin the reapings. I listen inventively as he tells the story of the districts and the Capital and why we have the Hunger Games. Then he introduces our Tribute representative, Tiffany Lanskee.

I always thought that Tiffany was sort of odd. She is always so peppy and excited, and funny to look at! This year her hair is short and blue. She has on a blue sparkly tube top and a shiny platinum mini skirt. Her arms and legs are completely covered in gold and silver tattoos! But her face is the funniest of all. This year her lips are a bright shade of silver and her eyes are lined and coated in a deep purple eye shadow. She hops up on stage and picks our mentors for this year. The girls mentor is Buffy Semmer and the boy is Clark Kansion. They are both victors from a while back, from when I was little, so I don't have a very good memory of what they are like. Now is the part everyone is waiting for. Tiffany hops over to the girls reaping ball to pick a name. Only one of those slips says Vivienne Cameron. I'm not too worried.

Tiffany digs through the reaping ball carefully, making it seem so dramatic, until she finds just the perfect slip. Then she pulls it out. "And the District one girl tribute for the 76th Hunger Games is…" she pauses to build up the suspense. "Vivienne Cameron!" I immediately go into shock. Me, they pulled out my name! I slowly make my way to the stage. It seems like a dream. This can't be real, this can't be happening. Any minuet I am going to wake up and find myself sleeping in my nice cozy bed, ready to get up and go to school. My home, my family, my perfect life, Daisy, I've got too much to live for, I can't leave now! As I stand on stage, the crowd cheers for their newest tribute, me. And as I stand up there, I look out into the crowds. And I see Bree off in the distance, as if my dream is flip flopped. She gives me a hard stare and I nod, knowing exactly what she means. I am coming home, district one, I am coming home…

**Julian Devereux:**

When I wake up this morning, I know that today is going to be different than just any other day. Today is the reapings; and I am going to be sent to the Hunger Games. Of course, I have no way to guarantee my name is going to be pulled, but it won't matter. I have been training for this moment my whole life, and I am not going to let it slip away. I am going to volunteer.

I am about to get out of bed when my mother walks in carrying a tray full of elaborate breakfast foods. She is still in her nightgown, and there are bags under her eyes. Her eyes are red, I noticed. She must have been crying. Now I know what this is all about. "good morning," she says. "Morning," I reply as she sets the tray of food on my lap. "I made you some breakfast, it's all your favorite foods, I hope you like it," she gushes, watching me hopefully. I look down at the tray. She has made a cheese omelet with everything on it, eggs Benedict, toast with jam and honey, even a slice of apple pie. "Ya," I sigh, "It's great.." I know what she is trying to do. And it's not going to work, though she is tempting me. "So, honey, your father tells me your going to volunteer this year…..Are you sure, I mean I know you've worked hard for this but, Don't you,.. Don't you think you might want to stay?" she asks, trying to appear casual.

This isn't going to be easy for her. "Mom, I love the breakfast, but, I can't stay, ok? I need to do this, this is what I've been training for my entire life, this is my life, I can't just.." I stop when I see her eyes start to tear up. "I know, I know, but,… but, I.." she stutters. Then she catches herself. She nods and leans in to hug me, and whispers so softly I can barley hear it. "Please, please don't let them take another one of my babies. Not again, not again." Then she leaves the room so I can finish my breakfast in peace. We'll whatever peace I can manage to find now that she brought up Jackie. I miss her so much. Jackie, my twin, was killed a few years back in the Hunger Games. It makes me angry just thinking about it, and I will never let district two get away with what they did. I can still hear her screams in my head,….. I shudder. Her death was awful. But I won't let that happen me, I'm not going to make the same mistake. In the arena you have got to learn that you can't trust anybody, especially not the careers in your group, they can backstab you any minuet, literally. Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.

I finish up eating whatever I can hold down and ring the dishes to the kitchen to wash them. After I am done, I go into my room to take a shower and get ready for the games. The warm water helps to clear my head and washes away any tiny sliver of doubt that may have started to lodge itself in my heart. After I am cleaned up, I go to my closet and grab the first clothes that my hand touches; a black t-shirt and blue jeans; it's comfy and I hate dressing up, so it works perfectly. Once I am dressed, I walk over to my dresser and open up the last drawer. It's empty, of course, but I push hard on the back end of the drawer and a small compartment area pops open. Carefully, I reach my hand in and pull out a silver chain. It belonged to Jackie, and now it belongs to me. It's good to have a reminder of her to bring with me to the games. And it was also a reminder to me that the other tributes are just as capable of backstabbing, cheating, and lying as I am. I won't fall for that, I'm going to win.

I am ready long before my parents and my little sister, Alicia. I decide to go alone this year, their going to be late anyways, because this is the first year she is eligible for the reapings, not that she is ever going to volunteer. My father has tried to teach her and train her for the games, but she practically died crying when he was teaching her to kill a squirrel. Not to mention when he was trying to show her how to gut and skin it, you don't even want to know. I can only imagine what she would do if that was a person, even if that person was trying to kill her. She is such a softy! Anyways, I go in to say goodbye before I leave. My mother has washed away any signs of her earlier breakdown, but no doubt she will be crying again before this is all over. She hugs me and tells me she loves me, and that she'll be missing me and we'll have to celebrate when I get home. My father, on the other hand, wishes me good luck. "You're ready, Julian, make me proud."

I hurry off to the square where I am rushed off to the rest of the 17 year olds. "Hey Julain, heard your going to the games this year," someone shouted teasingly. I laugh along with the rest of the crowd. "Yeah, we'll the rest of you don't even think about it, cause it's my turn this year," I shout back. I'm not the only one who is all set on volunteering, but I'm going to be the first. "Do us a favor, ok? Come back alive, those coffins they send back are nasty," someone else remarked. "Are you kidding me? It'll be a piece of cake!" I laugh. We joke around until the mayor steps up on stage to tell us the story of the Hunger Games. I don't focus too much on it, it's the same introduction, I just want to get to the tribute drawings. Soon enough, Tiffany bounces up on stage looking as ridiculous as ever. "Happy Hunger Games! "she gushes, before she picks our mentors for this year. We move quickly on to the tributes. "Finally," I thought. She makes a big show of announcing the female tribute, some little baby doll faced twelve year old who is looking as determined as ever up on stage. Poor kid, it's a shame she won't be coming back. Finally, Tiffany reaches into the male tribute ball. I have to be quick, they'll only take the first one….

"And the male tribute is,…. Harvy Strongmen!"

"I volunteer!" I immediately jump up before anyone else can even think about shouting out the words. Then I run up to stage to take the place of the fifteen year old who was drawn. He is actually looking somewhat relived to me. As I stand up there, Tiffany asks district one to congratulate their newest tribute. I look out into the crowd and meet my father's eyes, he is looking so happy, but by his stare I can tell what he would say to me, "It isn't over yet," Then I look at my mother. There are tears running down her face, and I can't help but to feel a little guilty. She has already lost one child to the games and she is worried she will loose another. But she is not going to loose me, at least not in the games. Jackie may be gone, but now I can fight for her. We're going to in this year Jackie, we're going to win…..


	6. District Two Reapings

**Ok, so this is district two's reapings. Sorry if I keep flooding you with alerts, I've keep finding this to change! No worries, this is my last one, I promise ;P I'm trying to keep the reapings unique and surprising, and I am trying my best to avoid the repetition, repetition, repetition that I see in a lot of other games. Please let me know if they are getting to repetitive and boring! Also, I still am missing about 10 people's Alliance sheets; make sure your working on them and getting them in ASPA! As soon as we get more sponsors, I'll start posting Sponsor Questions, so be on the lookout!**

**This chapter features Daphine Ryte created by Demiblood22 and Lucius Graystone created by sleetinthesummer. Demiblood22, don't worry if Daphine isn't as "anti-capital" as you thought she would be, I have a plan ;P (Muwahahahaha) I found Luc's character pretty hard to write, for the reason he is a guy, so it's hard to find a guy's POV in anything for me, and the fact he's got so many different layers to his personality! While he acts one way at home, and another with his friends, the way he acts when he opens up to himself is entirely different (the part you haven't actually seen yet), making him one of the most complex character's I've written. (you'll start to see a change in him later on in the games ;P He's a very conflicted person lol) Hope I did them justice! I couldn't help but add a phun into Luc's point of view, see if you can find it ;P I'll reference back to it later in the stories, so no worries if you don't! I also couldn't help throwing in a little something extra on Daphine's side with her little brother, I thought it would give this chapter a little twist :P So here it is, I'd love to hear what you think!**

**District Two: **

**Daphine Ryte: **

"Daphine, Daphine." I hear a soft sweet voice calling my name. "Daphine, wake up sweetheart,"

The voice said. Flickering my eyes open, I see my mother sitting on my bed. Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I notice she has a tray of food in her lap. On the tray there is a stack of buttermilk pancakes and syrup, a scoop of scrambled eggs, a piece of toast and jam, a glass of milk, and two slices of bacon. The smell is enough to make my mouth water. "Good morning honey, are you feeling?" she asked me. "Pretty good," I replied. Today isn't exactly my favorite day of the year.

Today is the day of the reaping. I'm not exactly a "fan" of the Capital like most people around here, and I find what they're doing to us truly repulsive, but I stay quiet; keeps me out of trouble. Of course, like anyone in our district, my mother has given me the proper training that I need for the games, making sure I am fully prepared. I work hard, but I never volunteer. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind the glory, but I'm not heartless like most of the people around here. I'm not too thrilled about the thought of killing other kids. I'd do it, but I wouldn't enjoy it. I guess that's why I've never volunteered. My mother never pushes it, and supports me like she always does, but my father calls me stupid. I always bite my tongue and tell him I'll go when I'm picked, but he doesn't understand. He's my father, and I try my best to be a good daughter, but it's hard when he is not exactly the fatherly type. It seems the only time he ever really pays attention to me and my brother when he is angry at us. It makes me sad at times, but I think it hurts my little brother, Polly, more.

"I made you some breakfast," My mother says, placing the tray of food in my lap. "Thanks mom," I reply. She smiles. "I'm going to go wake up Polly. Let me know when you are done eating so I can prepare your bath." Then she kisses me on the forehead and walks out the door.

The food tastes delicious, and I am so hungry it's gone in no time at all. My mother is still busy with Polly, so I take the tray to the kitchen and walk towards the bathroom. I start turn on the faucet and let the hot water flow into the tub. The water feels nice, and my mother had left her bath salts out for me to use. As the salt dissolves, it fills the room with the smell of roses and honey. I close my eyes and try to enjoy it. Once I am scrubbed up, I wrap myself in a towel and go to pick out an outfit. Walking into my room, I see that my mother has laid out a new outfit. Of course, it's my second to last year to be eligible for the games, so my mother wanted me to have it. She has laid out a full length blue dress. It is long, coming all the way down to the floor. It is a strapless dress, the top torso decorated with white crystal gem design and the middle is wrapped tightly for a slimming look; The bottom flairs out like a ball gown. All in all, it is stunning. I carefully pick up the dress and slip it on. Then I pick out a pair of heels and walk over to my dresser to grab my hairbrush. I brush and part my short black hair. Thankfully, I don't have to do much to it. As far as makeup goes, my mother would insist, so I apply a little lipstick and some dark eye liner. Then I go to wait for my family in the living room.

My brother is already there. This is the first year he is eligible for the games. My mother has dressed him in a dark blue dress shirt and white pants, and she is insisting that she combs his hair. Of course, he is whining, but he has to bear it; my mother insists. "Hey mom, hey Polly" I say with a smile. "Oh Daphine, you look beautiful!" my mother exclaims. "Hey mom, I don't think that's Daphine, maybe she got a face transplant," my brother teases. I give him a playful shove. My brother can be so annoying! "Excuse me you to, I have to go get your Father. It's almost one! Were going to be late!" My mother sighs rushing into the back room to get my father.

By ten till one, my family is being marched into the town square, and Polly and I are paraded into our separate roped off sections. I hurry to the 17 year old group, hoping to find Kerry. Seeing her, I rush over to say hi. "Hey," she says with a small smile. "Are you going to volunteer this year?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "Well good luck if you're picked." I tell her. She smiles. "Same to you." Kerry isn't very talkative, but she's my friend, so I stick by her no matter what. "Where's Torres? Is he here yet?" I ask her. She points behind us to the eighteen year olds. I see Torres smiling at me, and I wave. Though he is too far away to talk to, I know we are both thinking the same thing; good luck. As the clock strikes one, the mayor steps up on stage to tell the story of the Hunger Games. It's always the same thing, so I don't pay much attention. Then he calls up our district representative, Kattie Pethrway.

Kattie is like all people at the Capital; peppy and spunky, totally hyper, and _**extremely**_annoying. She hops up on stage, totally ecstatic to be here. This year, her color theme is pink; pink hair, pink makeup, pink dress, pink shoes. The only thing that isn't pink is her platinum skin and golden tattooed arms. To me she looks like a giant grape. Capital fashions. She introduces herself and then proceeds to draw our mentors for this year. For the girls, it's Rachel Tefer, and for the guys, it's Blake Carthway. Then she gets to what we all have been waiting for. Carefully, she fishes around in the girls reaping ball until she finds just the perfect slip of paper. The suspense builds as she smoothes out the paper and clears her throat to announce the name. I am holding my breath, waiting for her to speak; and then she does. "Daphine Ryte" I am in shock. It's me, me. I am going to the games, I can't even begin to think what this means, I can't breath. Kerry nudges me on the shoulder, which makes me come to, and I slowly approach the stage. "Alright! Congratulations to our newest District 2 tribute!" Kattie gushes. Then she quickly pulls out the boys slip. .I barley have a chance to interpret my own fate when the unthinkable happens. "and our boy's tribute is….Polly Ryte!"

I feel as though someone has punched me in the stomach. Take me, but not Polly, not my sweet little baby brother, anyone but him! He may be a pain in the butt, but he is my pain in the butt! He can't die! He's not ready for this, not today, not now! I turn to look at his face. He is slowly making his way to stage, still in shock. Oh Polly; Even my mom looks scared to death. We both know that Polly hasn't had the same type of training I have. He'll die for sure, or I'll die protecting him. This can't be happening,…I am still trying to put things together when I hear a loud voice come from out of the crowd. "I volunteer!" I immediately feel a rush of relief. Polly is not going, he is safe, he is safe. My relief immediately turns into curiosity as Lucius Graystone comes up on stage. He is tall, tan, and muscular, and his cloudy blue eyes and blonde hair give him a perfectly charming look. And on top of it all, he saved my brother. "No, don't, forget it" I tell myself. He may have saved Polly but I can't let it get to me. He was probably going to volunteer anyway. If it doesn't matter to him, it shouldn't matter to me. And yet I feel myself blushing as we are told to shake hands because, quite frankly, he is actually quite handsome. "Forget it Daphine!" I think to myself, finally coming around, and shaking his hand firmly. We are going to the Hunger Games. Only one person is going to come out alive; and that person is going to be me.

**Lucius Graystone:**

So today I was planning on sleeping in, with the reaping and all, but apparently my parents had other plans. It as barley eight am when my sister bursts into my room to tell me the news. "Hey Luc, you gotta get up. Mom and dad want to see us in the kitchen." Of course even with my eyes closed I can tell it's Sorensie. "Go away," I mumble. I love her to death, but there is no way she is going to get me up out of bed this early. Of course, she doesn't move. "five more minuets" I groan. "I'll give you to the count of three," she says. If there is one thing I can guarantee about Sorensie, it's that she is just as stubborn as I am. "one," she counts threateningly. I take my pillow and cover my head. "two, three." Then I hear footsteps. I'm not stupid, I know she has something planned, and I should get up, but I'm too stubborn to move. It doesn't take long before I hear Sorensie's footsteps walking to my bed. She's going to dump water all over me, I just know it. But of course I underestimate her. "If you won't come to the kitchen, I'll bring the kitchen to you." She says. Confused, I start to get up, and just as I remove the pillow from my head, she takes my covers and flips me over on my back, and then dumps the tray of food all over me. Then she tosses the tray on my lap. "See you in the kitchen," she says, leaving the room with a smile.

Sighing, I get up out of bed and walk over to my closet to change out of my now syrup and scrambled egg covered clothing. I guess I deserved that. I decide to shower after breakfast since my parents obviously want to see me now, so I settle for throwing on an old t-shirt and a clean pair of boxers. Then I hurry to the kitchen. My dad and Sorrensie are sitting at the table, and my mother is serving them breakfast. How my parents ever fell in love is beyond me. My mother, even in her early forties, is radiantly beautiful. Her skin is pale and smooth and her hair is long and black, and her smile is enough to make any man's heart melt. My father, on the other hand, is a full head shorter than my mom, and is starting to go bald. They're an odd couple, but then again, Sorrensie with her red hair and me with my tan skin and blonde hair don't exactly look very much like our parents at all either."I'll take that," I say to my mom, taking the pan of food she has prepared. "You can go sit down," She thanks me and gives me a quick hug, then takes a seat at the table. "So Lucius, this is your last reaping. Do you have anything planned?" my father asks me. I already know what he is referring to. He has been training me all my life for the games and this being my last reaping, will make it my last year to volunteer. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it, and I think I am going to volunteer." I tell him casually. Of course I have done much more than thinking about it; it's what I have been preparing for my entire life! And now that I'm eighteen, I'm at my peak training point, and I'm ready to win it. The honor, the glory, the girls, it'll be great.

A huge smile breaks out on my dad's face."Ah that's my boy!" He laughs, patting me on the back. "They're going to love you at the Capital." My mother smiles and nods, although I know she is a bit worried for me. I see Sorrensie pause before letting a little smile show. But she gives me that look, I know what she means. It's the look that means, "You better come back home, I want my brother, not that stone dead body lying in a coffin." I stare her back as if to say she has nothing to worry about. I'm not about to let some guy stand in my way, I'm in it to win it.

After breakfast my parents tell Sorrensie to clean up while I go get ready. As soon as their gone I go over to the sink. "I got it, you go get ready," I say, taking the plate and rag from her hand. I am expecting her to leave, but she doesn't. She catches my hand, and turns me around. "Luc," she says. "yea?" I ask. "You'd do anything for me, right?" she asks. "Of course!" I assure her. "I know your going to volunteer, and it's going to be great, but do me a favor please. Don't do anything stupid. I want you to come home, I want my big brother back, alive." She says. I pull her into a hug. "Of course, I'm going to win. Don't worry about it," I tell her. She nods and slips something into my hand, then hurries back to her room before I can see what it is. As I unfold my hand, I see it. It's her favorite bracelet. And now it is going to be my token in the games. I sigh, she is really pushing it now. Of course she wants me to have it, to remind me of her while I'm in the arena, to remind me of what I leave behind if I die. But there is no if, I'm not going to die. I'm going to win.

After I have cleaned everything up, I head back to my room to take a shower and wash off the rest of Sorrensie's "wakeup call". Of course, I've got syrup stuck in my hair, so it takes me a little bit longer than usual to get cleaned up. Then I grab a gray t-shirt out of my closet and slip on a pair of jeans. Then I hurry to the front door, yelling back to my parents that I am heading for the town square. Of course, I have a few errands to run on the way. I reach the door the same time Sorrensie does; she looks beautiful. I may not be much into fashion, but Sorrensie is. She is wearing a long shimmery blue dress with some blue high heels and a silver chain necklace. Her long red hair is straightened to cover part of her face. She is wearing dark eye liner and red lip-gloss, and looks absolutely stunning. I know what that means. "So, you're leaving early. Are you going to see Balthazor?" Balthazor is her boyfriend; they've been going out for almost a year now."Yeah," Sorrensie smiles, "he's picking me up at quarter till 12, we're going to walk to the games together." "But it's only 10," I reply. "yea…, but I'm meeting up with Hannah and the rest of the girls" She says with a little smirk. Even I know what that means. She and the rest of the gang are going off to flirt and hit on hot guys before her boyfriend shows up. I don't know why she hangs onto that old boyfriend of hers; she could do a lot better. Sorrensie slips out the door before I can say anything else, and I follow closely behind her. She's not the only one who has things to do.

I quickly make my way though the backstreets and alley ways to the fountain on the edge of town. It's the watering hole for teenagers, and I'm not about to miss it today. Today there are going to be so many girls there, all dressed up for the reaping, needing a shoulder to cry on; and me, I'm going to be their prince charming. Well, at least for today. As I am walking, I am aware of footsteps behind me. Sure enough, Sam and Brick show up by my side. "Hey man, you didn't think you were going to let us miss this, did you?" Sam asks with a smile."There are plenty of girls to go around." I laugh."We'll see about that. I wouldn't be so confident if I were you." Sam and I have this thing going on. We keep a tally of every girl we get to fall for us, and add them up at the end of the week. Whoever has the most points wins, and loser has to, well let's just say you don't want to loose this bet!

Wherever Sam and I go, so does Brick. He has a girlfriend, so he doesn't hit on the girls like we do, but he tags along whenever he can.

As we reach fountain square, I scope out my options. There must be close to thirty five girls in the square today, and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in the low numbers. Looks like I'm going to have to step up my game today if I want to beat Sam. So I look around for my first group. There are small groups of five or so spread out in small clusters around the fountain, and then there is a big group of perhaps fifteen by the corner; that's going to be my group today. Unfortunately, I can tell Sam is thinking the same thing. So Sam and I strut over to them as fast as we can. Luckily, even if I am slow, I am faster than Sam, and I reach them long before he does.

"Hello ladies, how are we doing today?" I ask smoothly. I am responded to with a series of giggles. This is going to be too easy. "I must say, you all are looking absolutely beautiful." I comment. Again, I am responded with a lot of blushing and more giggles. They are practically eating out of my hand."Yea, well you see, I was on my way to Ringo's this morning when I passed by you all just standing here, and I must say, I was stunned to see such beautiful ladies standing here all by yourselves. So I thought I'd come over here and see if you wanted to join me."This time there are a series of whispers and one of the brunettes in back spoke for the group. "We'd love to!" "Great!" I say silently congratulating myself. I offer my arms out, and the girls go for it right away. Two of them get there first. With a blonde on one arm and a redhead on the other, I escort the group of girls to the dance club. Yep, a dance club. Here in district two, we are so close to the Capital that our victors usually pick up some of the things they have in the Capital and bring them back here to improve our district. Ringo's was put up after our victor, Finick, suggested it about eight years ago. It's the morning of the reaping, and everything is supposed to be closed down, but Ringo's is secretly open until a few minuets before the reapings.

As we are walking to the club, I am aware of a large crowd of people behind us. Turning my head slightly, I can just make out Sam triumphantly walking with what looks like the rest of the girls from the fountain by his side. I shake my head. Sam, Sam, Sam. It isn't long before we reach the club. Then everything goes wild. Just the kind of morning I need before I head off to the Capital.

At five till 11, Ringo's closes. When we are outside, Sam gives me that look. I nod. "Ok ladies, it's been fun, but I have got to go." Their smiles immediately drop. " …But it would be my pleasure to escort you to the square." They immediately perk up, and despite the dirty looks I am getting from Sam, I walk the girls to the square. Most of them look heartbroken to have to leave me, but they all walk slowly off to their different sections. It seems as though I had picked up mostly 17 and 16 year olds, but there are a handful of girls who are lucky enough to follow me to the eighteen year old section. There I meet up with Sam and Brick again. Sam smiles. "Ah were going to miss you buddy, I don't know how I'll manage with you gone." "yea, all those sad girls crying at your doorstep that I'm gone, how ever will you mange?" I laugh. "But I'm going to be all set when I get back, so have fun while it lasts." Sam gives me a quick hug, and so does Brick. Then everything quiets down for the reaping ceremony.

The mayor steps up on stage and addresses the crowd with the story of the Hunger Games. Then he calls up our district representative , Kattie Pethrway. I always thought she looked odd, well at least to our district, but it makes me excited to see the Capital. Her theme this year is pink; Pink hair, shoes, dress, makeup, and her skin is platinum with gold tattoos. She looks like lots of fun. She excitedly pulls out our mentors for his year; Rachel Tefer and Blake Carthway. Both of them are in their mid twenties, having won the game at a somewhat young age. Their both insanely smart and viscous killers, so they should be great mentors. Finally, she gets to what we have all been waiting for. The tributes. She makes sure to go super slowly and make a big show of announcing the girl tribute. "Daphine Ryte!" she shouts enthusiastically. Daphine ey? I've never heard of a Daphine, and I thought I knew all the girls in my school. Maybe I do know her; I'm not very good with names. Unfortunately, I am in the back, so I can't get a very good look at her yet.

Next Kattie reaches into the male tribute ball. "And our boy's tribute is…..Polly Ryte!" "I volunteer!' I shout loudly. Yes,.. I am the first. I hurry up to the stage to take the place of some little twelve year old who is quite frankly looking scared to death. I also get a first look at my counter tribute. I, in fact, don't know her, which strikes me as odd. She is actually quite beautiful. Her hair is short and black, and she is very pale, like my mother. She has on a long blue dress with such beautiful decoration, but the most captivating thing of all if her icy blue eyes. She is looking me over as I give my name to Kattie. There is a look of relief on her face. Her brother, I realize, I just saved her brother. But as I walk up next to her, her eyes harden. I wish I knew what she was thinking. As Kattie tells us to shake hands, I extend mine out to hers. And as she takes it, I feel a chill run down my spine. There is something about her, and I am in fact for the first time, nervous." No, don't do this Luc," I think to myself. "She is just a girl, you don't even know her. Come on, you can't let her get to your head, you have too much to risk." But as our eyes meet, I know this one is different. And I intend to find out why.


	7. District Three Reapings

**Hey everyone, to clear up the whole Sponsor thing, I haven't been able to pull in enough sponsors for the games, so every tribute creator will sponsor their own tribute! If you have multiple tributes, then for every question you answer, you will take the number of points it says for every tribute. **

**Ex. I have Fred and George. I answered "How many pages in the book" for 1 point, so my tribute sheet looks like this:**

**Fred- 1 point**

**George- 1 point**

**Yes, all of your points for your different tributes must be kept separate! If you do not know how to sponsor, look at the Sponsor sheet and PM me if you still have questions! And MeanZombieQueen, you can still hold your sponsor spot, dancegurl can sponsor her other tribute ;P Watch the next chapter, because I will be starting Sponsor Questions!**

**Here is district 3's reapings. It features Samantha Agri and Scott Igill, both created by Kennelle. Yse, District 3 is a career district in my Hunger games, because I don't see why the careerness should skip a district so close to the Capital! So for these games, we are pretending District 3 are careers ;P Also, no one has caught it yet, but I made a mistake in District 2's reapings, saying Finnick was from District two. One of those head banging moments for me ;P I'm surprised no one caught it! I also called the district 2 rep a grape when she was all pink, lol I switched it to pink and forgot to change that, my bad! Lol they can't all be perfect if I'm going for one post a day! Anyways I found myself writing Sam more like a tribute from district 12 than district 3 because she is so unlike most of the careers, with both her poverty and her difference in training. Scott was harder to write in the beginning, I'm not quite sure why,but it got easier as I went on in his perspective. Hopefully I captured their characters right! (Kennelle, there is a note for you after these reapings, so please look at it once your done reading!)I started with the male tribute this time, you'll see why ;P I'd love to hear what you think! **

**District Three****:**

**Scott Igill:**

It was the same as any other day. Wake up, get dressed, eat, brush teeth, school, homework, and then dinner came along. We ate like we always did, and I was about to clear my plate when my father stops me. "Scott, we need to talk," he insists. I sit back down. "what's wrong?" I ask him. "I want you to volunteer for the Hunger games. I think you have a good chance of winning; everyone here does, so I think you should volunteer next year. Volunteer next year, volunteer next year, volunteer next year….."Then I wake up. It's a dream, just a dream. I sigh and get up out of bed. Today is the reaping, today I am going to the Hunger Games.

I don't know how to feel, honestly. I guess I could call myself a career, since I have been training for the games ever since last year when my father told me it was time to go. But I do know that I'm going to win, no matter what, it's going to be me.

I head for the kitchen to eat breakfast. My mother and father are already there. "Good morning Scott," my father greets me. I can tell what he wants to know just by the way he looks at me. "Morning," I say, taking my seat at the table. He is still giving me that look. He's waiting, waiting for me to confirm what he already knows. I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. He can wait and see like the rest of them. "So Scott, do you have anything you want to tell us?" he asks. "I'm volunteering," I blurt out. I break way too easily.

My dad smiles."Good," he replies. "You'll do great, honey," my mom reassures. "And we have saved up our money," she begins glancing at my father. Now this is odd. I've never heard anything about this before. "…So we think we are going to be able to sponsor you!" she finishes. Them sponsor me? It comes as a shock. "I've been taking extra shifts at work, but it still won't be able to buy much. Maybe we'll be able to get you a loaf of bread, or some water, maybe a roll of bandages or two, but at least it is something," she finished. I smile and give her and my dad a huge hug. "No, it means the world to me, thank you," I say. It really does, knowing that I have their full support.

After we are done eating, I run upstairs to finish getting read. First I take a shower. It helps to clear my head. After I am out, I grab my reaping clothes out of my closet. It's just a white shirt and a pair of black pants, nothing to fancy, so I slip them on. I take a look at myself in the mirror. I see a tall muscular guy with curly brown hair and ashen skin. I see him going into the arena and fighting, but do I see him winning? Yes, I do. I see him struggling to make the last stretch, but finally killing his opponent then before he is pulled up into the hovercraft to prepare for the celebration. Me. That boy is me. I am going to win this.

My fantasy is interrupted by a thud I hear against my window. AS I look out, I see my best friend, Hera, at my window. Hera! I run over and unlock my window to let her in. "Heya Scott," she says, climbing into my room. I close the window behind her. "Hera, what are you doing here?" I ask. "I wanted to see you before the reapings," she says smoothly. "I hate to break it to you, but have you ever thought about using the door? We do have that here," I joke. She can tell I'm not angry, I'm actually glad she came to see me. "Yea, well, I'm not exactly supposed to be here. I only have about five minuets tops," she admits. I laugh and shake my head. "It's good to see you," I say, pulling her into a hug.

"hey, I know you are volunteering, so I got something for you," she says suddenly. She takes the golden bracelet off her wrist and slips it onto mine. It's her favorite. "Hera, I," I start, looking at the bracelet. "No, take it. It's for good luck," she says. "Hera, I,…thank you." I reply. "Scott, I'm really going to miss you," she says softly. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it," I encourage her. She is avoiding my eyes. She doesn't like that I am volunteering. I lift her chin up to look at me. "Hera, don't worry about me. I have and always will be your best friend. We're a team, ok? You, me, and Tom, were a team. Best friends stick together, so you can bet I am going to come home." I say. She doesn't reply, she just looks at me. The next thing I know, I can feel her leaning in close to me and pressing her lips against mine. It was quick, and when she pulls away, I can see her feverently blushing as she quickly opens my window and climbs out of my room. I rush to the window after her. She is already running down the street. "I'll see you at the reapings, right?" I yell. She pauses for a few. "Um, y,..yea." she replies before continuing to run back home.

I pull my head in and close my window. What was that about? My head is swimming with questions. Hera is my friend, nothing more. That's the way it has been for years. But now I'm not so sure. I don't know what to think, my mind is a complete mess right now. "Scott! It's time to leave!" my father yells up. Great, it's time to go to the reaping. "Coming," I yell down. Maybe I can sort things out with Hera before the reapings begin.

I rush quickly downstairs and my parents walk me to the square. "Good bye, good luck!" they tell me as I walk to the roped off section marked 15. I can't think of much else except for one thing; Hera. I look around me, but I don't see her, she must not be here yet. It's a hard day for her and her family. They already lost one kid to the games, and are completely against the Capital. Hera is more outspoken about it than her parents, but since she is a minor, it doesn't get her into as much trouble.

I may not have found Hera, but I found Tom. "hey Tom," I greet."What's up, Scott?" he replies smiling. "You ready for this?" he asks. "yea, sure, whatever. Where's Hera?" I ask him. He looks around. "I don't know, I haven't seen her yet. Maybe she is running late," he replies. "Is everything ok? You seem flustered. "yea, I'm fine." I reply. Apparently I'm not too convincing. "Hey, what happened with Hera?" he asks. "I, ..she kissed me," I confess. He looks shocked. "Hera? That's,…" I never got the chance to find out what he was going to say because the mayor stepped up on stage. "Attention everyone," he began. Everything fell silent as he told us the story of the Hunger Games. I couldn't pay attention. I still couldn't find Hera. Then our district representative, Launny Koruner stepped up on stage. "Hello district 3, how are you all doing today?" she began. "Great, oh ya just great," I wanted to reply. But I kept my mouth shut. Where was Hera? I kept looking for her as Launny announced our mentors for this year. Then she got to the tribute. Fishing around in the reaping ball, she pulled out a slip of paper. What she had to say made me freeze in my tracks. "and the Girl, the girl tribute for the 76th Hunger Games is…Hera Mason!"

I freeze and turn to stage. Hera? No that can't be right. It can't be Hera! But oddly enough, no one approaches the stage. "Hera Mason!" Launny announces again. Still, no one comes up to stage. "Is there a Hera Mason out there?" Launny asks, struggling to keep her temper. Immediately the crowd breaks out into whispers, especially my section. Hera, where could she be? "She's gone!" I hear someone shout. Gone? What does he mean gone? Launy immediately nods to the peacekeepers guarding the square. "Ok, due to technical difficulties, it is obvious that our tribute is very sick and could not make it here today. So, we will draw a new name!" Sick? Hera isn't sick, she was perfectly fine this morning! "and our new tribute is… Samantha Agri!"

My section parts as we let the new tribute go up to stage. I look frantically around for Hera until someone taps me on the shoulder. "I know what happened to Hera," they whisper. "Tell me!" I plead. " They ran for it, late this morning. I saw them; they were sneaking out through the back fences with these large packs ok their backs. I saw the girl drop a note, and so I went to get it." He whispers. "A note? What did it say?" I ask rapidly. "I don't know, there wasn't much. It just had a number on it," the boy replies. "What? What number?" I ask. I need a clue, anything to help me find her. "It just said 13. I don't know any more." My heart sinks. 13? What could that mean? All I know is that they ran for it. She is gone.

I am just turning back around when I hear Launny's voice calling for volunteers. Up onstage is my best friend Tom. Looks like I've got no choice now, I can't leave to go find Hera if my best friend is being sent to the games. "I volunteer!" I cry out, hurrying up to the stage. I give Tom a look as he walks back down. He nods. He'll do everything to try and find out any news about Hera. Meanwhile, me, I've got a game to win. "Hera, I hope wherever you are, that your watching this," I think to myself. "Because I'm going to win this, and then I am coming home and I hope with all my heart that you will join me."

**Samantha Agri: **

I wake up early before the sun rose, as I do everyday. Looking over to my sister's bed, I see she is still sound asleep. I silently sigh in relief. She is a light sleeper, so I must be careful. Quietly getting up out of bed, I sneak over to my chair and grab my boots and jacket. I don't put them on yet, knowing it will make to much noise. I can't risk Desa waking up. If she wakes up, she will probably tell Bark where I am going. No, he wouldn't let me leave the house, not today. Now here is the tricky part. The door to our room is on the other side of Desa's bed. I tiptoe quietly to the door and turn the handle. Taking a deep breath, I swing open the door. CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK I wince. It's louder than it usually is. I hold my breath and turn back to Desa. Her eyes are still closed. Whew, I made it.

"Sam, where are you going," I hear her soft voice say. So much for making it out the door. I spin around. "I have got some things to do, but I'll be back in a few hours."I whisper quickly. "But where are you going? You leave every day and you never tell me where you're going. It makes me scared." She quivers. I sigh. She is a lot sneakier than I thought. "Honey, I am going to meet up with a friend, ok?" I tell her, straining to keep my tone calm. I wonder how much she knows, and how much she has told Bark. This could mean trouble. Big trouble." It's that one kid again, right? The one with the brown hair and blue eyes?" Great, apparently she's seen Vince. I better check to make sure…."Hey, you haven't told bark any of this, have you?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "No, but I will if you don't tell me where you're always sneaking off to. It scares me! You aren't doing anything bad are you?" she asks softly. "No, Desa, he is helping me study. He helps me learn and practice before school so I can be extra good. Now go to sleep. I'll l be home soon." Ok, so it's mostly the truth. But I don't want to tell her everything, just in case. I can't afford to loose my training; I've worked to hard to give up now.

As Desa drifts back to sleep, I sneak out the door and over to our front door. My father's boots are gone from their place just in front of the door; he must be out hunting already. Carefully, I open the door and sneak out, closing it behind me. Then I slip on my shoes and jacket and rush quickly down the street and through the alleys slums to our abandoned house. Vince is already there, bag in hand. "you're late," he says with a smile. "yea, well Desa almost caught me today," I say taking the bag from him and hurrying into the house. He follows closely behind. "Be more careful next time, I don't want your brother ripping my head off," he laughs, giving me a playful shove through the door. Vince and I have been friends for seven years. Bark, my overly protective older brother, definitely lives up to his name. He has always been overly protective of me, to the extremes of threatening to kill anyone who makes one wrong move. So as you can guess, I don't have a lot of friends. But Vince wasn't scared. He walked right up to me and said hello, and we have been inseparable ever since. For the past year and a half he has been helping m train with weapons, our latest plan to try and convince Bark I can take care of myself. I've been working hard behind Bark's back, because if he found out that Vince was helping me, he probably _**would**_ rip his head off, literally. I may not have been very good at first, but Vince and I practice every morning and I am getting really good. I hope to show Bark soon, and maybe it would bargain me some freedom. Maybe.

"So, what do you want to work on today?" Vince asks me as I unload the weapons we have managed to get from the bag. Vince' dad is the town carpenter, and so Vince saves whatever wood scrapes he can get and taught himself how to make bows and arrow shafts out of them. I get the string for the bows and look for nice sharp rock sliver to make the arrowheads. Our products are crude, but they work; and I am becoming an expert had shooting. I shrug."What about knives?" Vince suggests. "It's close for hand to hand self defense and you haven't worked much with them yet." Archery may be my best, but at least we have managed to practice with knives. That will be the number one thing I know my brother will look for in my self defense, if I ever get the guts to tell him about it.

I swiped some knives from the butcher's trashcan a few months ago; they are nice and dull, perfect for practice. I toss one to Vince and keep one for myself. That is one good thing about Vince being my friend. His father trains him for the games, although he never wants to go, he has the knowledge of weapons that can help teach me self defense. Today he shows me a new move. "use it if you are being held from the back, and you can't get out. You simply slide your arms down under theirs like this," he said, showing me, "and stab with the blade flat across, slice and twist like this," he said, using a fake dummy we had put together. We work on this move for a while. It's no where near perfect, but I've got the basics of it down. Then we work on a few more type of cuts and moves until the sun begins to rise up out of the trees. "Oh, I'm going to be late, thanks Vince," I tell him, giving him a quick hug. "See you at the reaping!" he calls out as I run out the door. The reapings, right. For a moment I had almost forgotten.

Living in a district is like living with a tick on your skin. It leeches itself to you and takes the blood that your body makes without doing anything to benefit you. The Capital is the tick. We work hard to make goods and foods, and the Capital takes those things away. Only difference is, we can't exactly pull the Capital out of our lives. It's here for good. And in District three, people actually LIKE it! Some people actually enjoy living under the capital's reign and their whole "Hunger Games"."They are murdering our children! Don't cheer it on, do something!" I want to scream at them. But of course I can't.

When I arrive home, I find my father's boots waiting for me at the front door. I quickly rush back to my room, hoping he hasn't noticed my absence. I hop in bed moments before bark enters. Luckily, he finds me "sleeping" and leaves me to rest in peace. It's a little after 10 when I hear movement in the kitchen and get up for breakfast. I wake Desa and we go into eat. My mother has already laid out a meal and my father is working to preserve the meat he got today. "Good morning mother, good morning father, good morning Bark," I greet as I sit down to eat. Our breakfast is strawberries, cheese, and bread. It's not much, like most days, but we manage.

After eating, I excuse myself to go to my room and get ready. It seems as though my mother has already heated the bath water, so I can get in and scrub up. When I am out, I get dressed in my reaping outfit. It is a red shirt and a lack skirt. It's not much, but it works. I braid the sides of my hair and pull them up to wrap around the back of my head. When I am done, I head out to our family room. Desa is still too young for the reapings, and Bark is too old, so I am the only child in the reapings right now. Boy does that make Bark made! He can protect me all he wants, but he can't protect me from the Capital!

At quarter till 12 we are headed to the town square. I am rushed off to the fifteen year old section. I break out in a smile when I see Vince. He looks hilarious in a long sleeve red shirt and dress pants. This is one of the only days of the year I get to see him dressed up! "How are you feeling?" he asks me. I know why. In district 3 there really isn't such thing as a tesserae, almost everyone can cover their basic needs. But not my family. My brother took tesserae up until he turned 19, then I took one this year. I took it in secret, he would never let me willingly, but we need the food. "I can't complain."

By The time the clock struck twelve, the mayor steps up on stage to tell us the story of the Hunger Games. After that, he invites our district rep, Launny Kourner, up on stage. She isn't as hyper as most of the other districts, but she has a lot of spunk! "Hello District 3! How are we all doing today?" She cries into the mic." Let's pick out our mentors for this year" Of course she chooses Rali Simkpons and Derg Gusher. Then she moves onto the tributes. She reaches her hand into the bowl and fishes out a slip of paper. "And the Girl, the girl tribute for the 76th Hunger Games is….

Hera Mason!" No one comes up to stage. "Hera mason!" Launny announces again. "Is there a Hera Mason out there?" she is starting to slip out of her cheery voice, probably thinking what a fool she looks like right now. Still no one comes up to stage. A series of whispers breaks out in the crowd. "There gone!" someone shouts. Immediately, Launny jerks her head to a group of peacekeepers guarding the entrance square. "Ok, due to technical difficulties, it is obvious that our tribute is very sick and could not make it here today. So, we will draw a new name!" she fishes quickly around in the bal for a new name as fast as she can. "and the new tribute is…Samantha Agri!"

I am in shock. Out of all the names, they pick some kid that has decided not to show up. And now I'm taking her place! Me! I am going to the Hunger Games, I am going to he Hunger Games. I turn to Vince; he is in just as much shock as I am. I slowly make my way through the crowd and up to the stage. No one volunteers. I am going to the Hunger Games. I am pretty much zoned out until a volunteer, Scott Igill, comes up to take the place of Tom Markon. That's when my brain snaps. I may be going to the games, but now I have the chance to get the freedom I have always wanted. "You can't protect me here, Bark," I think to myself. I am going to win this thing; and then I am going to come home and I'll be free.

**Kennelle-Your tribute is going to get a sponsor gift in the games from his "Parents" so no worries about sending it and it taking away from your points, I've got it covered! I hope you liked the thing with Hera, I had to make the goodbye earlier than you wanted, but I thought it might be fun!**


	8. District Four Reapings

**Ok, I am seeing a lot of the same people commenting on the story so far, and not very many new people. Thank you to all the people who have replied, your comments mean the world to me! I love to hear what you like and dislike about my stories (even if they aren't my characters!) So I am making a little addition to this chapter as well as a regular sponsor question! Review the reaping chapters up to this one, and I will give you a sponsor point for every reaping chapter you review. Your reviews must be in by Monday for this to count and it only applies this one time. For all those of you who have reviewed, I have already given you a sponsor point for every one of your reviews ;P (this will also make up for the lack of sponsor questions in the first few chapters when I was trying to work out sponsors ;P)**

**On another note, I have gotten a few suggestions for me to get a beta reader to improve whatever formatting and grammar errors I have. Thank you for the advice, but I don't have the money or the time right now to get one, so I am stuck using the resources I have (Word 2007) I apologize if you find it distracting, but I am doing the best I can with what I have. I might be able to get one during Christmas break, but I think that might be a little too late for this story!**

**Ok this is chapter four's reapings. The characters featured in this chapter are Bethany Brey by flamingsapphire and ****Zander Lacerta** **by Dramione4evs. Flamingsapphire, you did not give your tribute an age, so I gave her one myself. I had fun writing about Bethany and her brother, couldn't resist some cute stuff to put in there. Zander's POV is a little short, but I couldn't come up with a whole lot for him. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Remember to be working on your alliances! I am still missing 9 peoples, so please get to work and get them in! Sponsors, your question is below!**

**District Four:**

**Bethany Brey-**

I don't know why I'm out here, but I always find myself coming here every morning, expecially on this day every year. Today is the reaping. I am standing on the beach, still in my nightgown, digging my toes in the sand and letting the waves crash against the shore and spray me with the salty water of the ocean. It is still dark out, but the sun will be rising soon. It always gives me reassurance, watching the sun rise above the blue ocean waves out in the horizon. I love to see the sun light up the darkness. I love coming here. I love everything about this place; the gusts of winds that blow my hair around, the warmth of the water, the smell of the sea. I feel so small next to the ocean, but when I am here I feel free. Free from my father, free from grief and pain, free from training and school and reality. Free.

I use to come here with my mother when she was alive. She never told anyone about it, not even my father. She said it was our secret place, our special hide-a-way. "If you ever need a break away from the world, if you ever are feeling lost or discouraged, Bethany, come here. Let your heart make its home in these waves, because when your heart belongs to the sea, no one can tame you." My mother is dead now. She has been dead for 9 years now. I never know how she died, and I don't know if I will ever find out. When I came home from school one day my father just told me she had passed away. That was it, no explanation, no sympathy, no sorrow. He just said it, like it was some sort of bug on the windshield of his perfect day. Ever since then, I come here. It's the one place I can sort out my thoughts and feelings, the one place I can find myself; the one place I can be with her again.

The sun rises and its glow reflects off the water. I sit quietly on the shore as it rises higher in the sky. I don't have much longer, so I let my senses drink up everything they can before giving the view one last look and making my way towards home. I am carful to make my way quickly through the twists and turns of our village until I reach the victor's corner. My dad will be waking up soon. I hurry around the side of our house until I reach my window. I grab the ledge and carefully slide it open and climb inside. Then I hurry to hop in bed.

My father comes in only moments later to wake me up. "Sand, everywhere!" he exclaims. "There is so much stupid sand, I don't know where it's all coming from! Bethany! Wake up! Would you like to explain this?" I can tell he is angry, and I put on my best groggy face and fake a yawn. "I left my window open last night, it was getting to stuffy in here. The sand must have blown in with the wind." He is grumbling but luckily he suspects nothing. "well clean it up! And do it fast, I want you dressed and ready for the day in half an hour." With that he storms out of my room.

Sighing with relief, I go over and begin to sweep up the mess. When I am finished, I go to take a quick shower. Once I have washed all the sand and salt off of me, I get out to dry off. I grab my brush and blow dryer to dry my hair. I am happy with the results. Then I rush to my closet to pull out my reaping dress. It's a black top with a purple skirt. I match it with my white belt. Then I walk over to my jewelry box and pull out my mother's necklace. If I go to the games today, then I want to have this be my token. The necklace has a stone on it, and in the middle of the stone is a diamond casing that is filled with pure water. It's small enough not to be considered an asset in the games, but it's the most valuable possession I have. It was passed down in our family for many generations. The water was supposedly from the _Fons aqua Consisto Palam Mare-Maris. _It was said that my great-great-great grandmother was out with her family at sea one day when they got lost in a storm. All of their supplies and fresh water were tossed overboard in the chaos so when the storm calmed, they were slowly dying of thirst. The only thing my grandmother had left was a stone from her home village, and she tossed it as an offering into the sea. From the spot the stone fell, a spring rose up out of the ocean and they were saved. Renna, my great-great-great grandmother, was gifted with the stone charm as a reward from what she did. She and her family set sail for home, and no one has ever seen the spring since. The stone has been passed down to women in our family since then. 'It will bring you luck, Bethany." My mother had told me when she gave it to me on my fifth birthday. I don't know about the luck that she said it had, but it reminds me of her, and that's good enough for me. I slip it on and hurry downstairs to meet my father.

I meet my brother on the way down. He is up and dressed, too. "Hey Zack," I say. "How are you feeling?" he shrugged. "Good, I guess. Any idea why dad wants us down so early?" I shrug. Zackary seems nervous. He's always nervous on reaping day. Ever since my mom died, my father has been training me to fight in the games. My mother never approved of it, she said it was awful what the Capital did to us. But now that she is gone, my father can do whatever he wants with me. Zack is so sweet and innocent, ever for a fourteen year old; he would never hurt a fly! Luckily, I've managed to keep my dad's focus on me so Zack doesn't have to face training with my father. Our dad doesn't know about Zack's soft side, but I can almost guarantee if he did, he would beat it right out of him or toss him on the streets. My dad was a victor a while back; to him, winning is everything. I take what I get from training with him and teach Zack pieces of it, just in case he ever has to go to the games, I don't want him to be unprepared. I'm a lot easier on him than our dad would be, so he takes the training despite his dislike of them. I try to keep to the edible plants, climbing trees, swimming, camouflage, stuff that doesn't involve killing for now, because he tends to freak out when I pull out a weapon to teach him to use.

"I think he is just going to give us his annual reaping talk," I reply reassuringly. Sure enough, when we reach the kitchen for breakfast, we find our dad already there. "Good morning children. I wish to inform you that I have made my decision to start training Zackary." I watch Zack's face begin to drain and quickly but it. "Dad, no! You can't!" "And why can't I?" he asks. "Because,..because, I,..I've been training him already." I blurt out. "And why have you been training him and not me? Tell me!" my father barks. "I needed someone to practice with when you're busy, and Zack was willing to help." I look over to Zack. Hopefully our dad takes it.

"None the less, I wish to start training him." I try to interrupt, but my father cuts me off. "NO BUTTS! I am training Zackary and that's final! Now listen up and listen closely, because I am about to tell you something very important and I mean every word I say. I **will not **have one of you go to those games and loose, you got it? We are a family of victors, and that's what I expect from you two. And if I see one of you loose those games then I will deny ever having you as my child and burn your things, no questions asked. Got it? I want you to go in there and show no mercy, slice every throat you can and give your father a good show, ey? Now go off and play, I've got work to do. And you better be at those reapings or you're going to wish that the peacekeepers were still whipping you when I get a hold of you." With that he leaves the house and slams the front door shut.

My brother is really shaken, so I make him some cereal and sit down with him. "You don't really think I'm going to be picked this year, do you?" he asks me. "No, there are plenty of other people, I think you'll be safe." I reassure him. "What about the training, do you think he is serious about that?" he asks nervously. I nod my head. "I'm sorry kiddo, just keep our head up and try not to let him see the fear and disgust in your eyes. It'll be alright. After the reapings I'll try to convince him to train us together, that way you won't have to do it alone." "Promise?" he asks holding out his pinky. I laugh silently. Mom told us about that, the pinky promise. Apparently it was some old tradition her mother use to do with her friends when she was little, and had passed it down to our mom. "It's a sign of trust," she told us. She'd always make us pinky promise each other after that. "Promise," I reply shaking his pinky.

Just then, the doorbell rings. I answer it to find my friends Michael, Mikayla, Rachel, and Cahalan waiting for me at the door. "Hey," Rachel greets. "We wanted to know if you could hang out before the reaping?" I look back at my brother and then turn back to my friends. "Sure, um, would you guys mind if my brother tagged along? It's been a crazy morning and I don't want to leave him alone." My friends agree. "Hey Zack! Get your things; we're going to hang out with some friends before the reaping."

In no time at all, we are making our way out into town. All the shops are closed for the reapings, so we just walk along the boardwalk. Mikayla warms up to Zack pretty quickly. They laugh and talk following closely behind us. I meanwhile, can stop worrying about him and hang out with my other friends. Rachel walks on one side of me. She is funny, smart, caring, sweet, and loyal, he picture perfect BFF. I am the closest to her out of all my friends. She has always been there for me, like when my mother died and when I was having troubles with my father. Michael walks on my other side. I've known Michael for almost as long as I have Rachel. He can be super cocky and totally arrogant at times, but I don't really mind most of the time. He's a total flirt and we all know it, but when you finally get him to be himself he can be a real down to earth guy and I know I can always count on him. Sometimes though, when I look at his face, or listen to him talk, I wish we had something more. I wish that we could be more than friends. Cahalan walks on the other side of Rachel. She is shy and super quiet, but she's our friend, so we try to include her best we can.

We talk and window shop until it's time to head to the square. Mikayla heads off to her section to wait for my brother. Cahalan says goodbye and heads off with the rest of the fifteen year olds. I give Rachael and Michael that look and they pick up right away. "We'll see you in the square, Bethany." I nod. "Are you nervous?" I ask Zack. "a little," he admits. "Don't be. It'll be fine. Now I got to go, I'll see you after the reaping?" I tell him. "Wait! Beths, promise me something." He says. "What?" I ask him."Promise me that if you're picked, you'll come home." He says, holding out his pinky. I shake my head. "Ok," I say, in return offering my pinky out to his. We shake on it and he walks off to his section. I head off to the sixteen section to find my friends. "He a little nervous?" Rachael asks me. I nod. "I don't blame him. He was too young when my mother died to really remember her, and my father has been pushing the games so hard at us it scares him." I tell her. The reapings start quickly.

Our mayor comes up onto the stage to tell the story of the Hunger Games. Then he invites our district representative, Perry Kissengar, up to the stage. This year, like every year, she is wearing blue. Unlike most Capital people, her style stays relatively the same every year. Her dress is made of so many different shades of blues and greens and white, it looks to me like a jumbled mess. I guess it's supposed to represent the ocean, but it's not doing a very good job. Her skin is tinted a bluish green and her makeup matches her dress. She's always been like that, totally into fashion and looks. She hops up on stage to announce our mentors.

This year, the girls mentor is Sparrow Knightly. I notice her glare as she goes up on stage; it sends a chill down my spine. Sparrow is only 19. She won the games just last year by backstabbing the careers by knifing them in their sleep. She was so quiet and camouflaged when she snuck around, not even the cameras could pick her up! I think she lived in the alleys, because she didn't look very much like a career when she went to the games. Everyone pretty much left her alone until they found out what she could do. The other mentor is Herrin Nets. He was the idol tribute from district four. He was actually a close cousin to Finnick Odair, having the same blonde hair and blue eyes, muscular and handsome. He won the games because he could hold his breathe for a really long time. He would hide under the water of the lake and kill unsuspecting tributes that came to the lake for water. He was a loner for most of the game; most people believed that he was a Capital monster. The lake was the only source of water in the 73rd Hunger Games, so his plan worked well. He walks onto stage to join his fellow mentor.

When the mentors are up on stage, Perry goes over to announce the female tribute. As she reaches her hand into the reaping ball, I can feel it even before she calls out the name. It's me. I am going to the 76th Hunger Games. As I walk up to stage, I can see the shock in my friends faces. But what pains me the most is Zack's face. His eyes are already tearing up and he is trying hard to stay strong. There is pain on his face. I take my place up on stage and see my father's eyes gleaming with hope that I will win, I know he will take all the credit for training me, but I don't care. I stare him down. Know this, father; If I win it will not be for you. I will win because I promised my brother I would be coming home. And if there is one thing my mother taught me, you can never break a pinky promise.

**Zander Lacerta-**

I wake up early this morning to a scuffling sound by my window. I try to ignore it, but it gets louder and louder. "Lucky! Go away!" I groan. He doesn't listen. When I hear whimpering, I break down and get up out of bed. Sure enough, Lucky is waiting for me at my window. Lucky is a stray dog I found about a year ago. He was a small sickly mutt with a broken paw and matted fur practically starving to death on the street. It was so sad; I took him into the alley and made a splint for his paw, then fed him some of my lunch. He was cautious of me at first, but after I fed him he started following me around. I call him Lucky because, well, quite frankly he is lucky to be alive. Little did I know how much he would grow in the next year, or how much he would eat. I have a hard enough time trying to help my mother support us without having the extra mouth to feed. But I still do anyways, he's my friend. And dog friends can't turn on you, so I won't turn on him.

I grab a jar of dog food I bought yesterday out from under my nightstand and crack it open, pouring a little onto the ground outside my window. He begins to chomp on it immediately as I stroke his fur. A few years ago, my dad was out at sea fishing when his boat was caught in the storm. He drowned to death. It was a really hard time for me, and my best friend, Tyler, just laughed at me. Needless to say we did not stay friends for much longer. My mother has had a really hard time trying to support us. She is terrified of water ever since my father died, and since we live in a district that thrives off of the ocean, she had a hard time finding a job that did not remind her of her husband.

She works every day and long hours, so I am usually by myself. I try to help her out by fishing in open fishing areas, and doing the laundry, things like that. But times are getting tough, and we need money. So I am actually considering volunteering for the Hunger Games. I think that the Hunger Games is good for someone like me, because it can give my family a chance to survive. I think I might be able to win. I am very good with a knife, because we live in a more dangerous part of our district, so I have to be handy with some kind of weapon.

After I am done feeding Lucky, I head to the kitchen. My mom is making breakfast. She has whipped up some scrambled eggs and fried fish she usually saves for special occasion. I guess today is a special occasion. Today is the reapings. "Good morning," I tell her. She smiles. I love her smile; I don't get to see it very often. "Good morning, I made some breakfast." She says. We chat as I eat. After breakfast, I head to my room to change into my reaping outfit. It's not super fancy, just a white shirt and blue jeans. Then I take my father's ring out of the box beneath my bed. It's on a thin rusty chain I found. I carefully clip it around my neck and tuck it under my shirt. No need to remind my mother of him today. But I want to take it with me if I go to the Hunger Games. I want to have some reminder of my father there.

My mother is flustered when I come out. She is trying her best to straighten up the house and wash the dishes. I offer to take over so she can go get ready. I don't mind the work, and it gives me time to sort things out.

At quarter till 12, I head to the square with my mom and make my way to the fourteen's section. The reapings start with the mayor announcing the story of the Hunger Games. I don't pay too much attention as he introduces our district rep and the mentors are picked. Instead I weigh out my options. Bethany Brey is called up to stage and Perry starts digging around in the male reaping ball. I have made up my mind to volunteer hen she calls my name. I am a little surprised, but I guess it works. I make my way up to stage where I am told to shake hands with my counter tribute. I am going to wins these games, mom. I think to myself. I promise I will win, and when I do, I will get us the better life we deserve.

This is the end of District four! Below is the sponsor question, remember, everyone is sponsoring their own tribute except for the dancegurl and meanzombiequeen situation!

**In Bethany's side of the story, she talks about the **_**Fons aqua Consisto Palam Mar-Maris. **_**This place comes from the Latin language. What would the **_**Fons aqua Consisto Palam Mare-Maris **_**be in English? (Exact wording please! it's easiest if you enter just one word at a time, the word with the dash just means it is one word with a space inbetween, so mare-mairis would need to be typed in "mare maris" to find the translations! each word has a few meanings, but you should be able to figure it out, I'll give it to you if your really close!) This SQ is worth 1 point! Answers must be in by this Monday!**


	9. Dsitrict Five Reapings

**Ok so I updated the Sponsor sheet, but I may not have gotten it completely right, just let me know if I didn't give you the points you earned, and I'll check up on it and fix it ;P about the beta reader, lol I thought it was a program not a person , so yea I will work on getting one! My schedule is going to get super crazy with school starting back up, so chapters are going to be going up slower than usual. Don't worry, I'm not the type of person who discontinues or waits weeks to put out one new chapter, so just keep checking your alerts for more chapters, I hope to have them out as soon as I can! I am STILL missing about 9 people's alliances, so please get them in! I really don't have the time to be sorting out your alliances for you, so please note that I will be more likely to kill off the tributes who have not made alliances (if you have told me your tribute is a loner and won't team up at all, so I don't have to work out alliances for them, this does not apply to you!) Please be working on them and getting them in! Thank you to all of you who have gotten them in already.**

**This chapter is District 5 reapings, which features Coby Reuben by Penelope Wendy Bing and Nan Wetherall by Turq8. Nan's and Coby's POV I wanted to start off different because you've been seeing a lot of the same type of thing with the tributes waking up, starting their day. So I took a chance and decided to do thier reaping POV in a flashback! This is cool because this chapter will give you insight to things that are going to happen later on in the story, from their POV of course ;P When these flashback are going on, I'm not going to say, maybe you can figure it out later on! Heads up, sponsors, that maybe be a question during the games! ****SPONSOR QUESTION: Wohoo! **_**The Mockingjay **_**came out! This question will really benefit all of you HUGE Hunger Games Fans who are already reading the new book! Your sponsor question is:**

**Is Katiness more in love with Peeta or Gale in the book up to chapter 3? Please explain! Now state which team, Peeta or Gale, are you on and why? Now predict what you think will happen in the end of the book! No worries about spoiling the book for me, I've already finished it ;P Since this question has so many parts, it's worth…..5 POINTS! Be quick, you only have until Sunday night to get your answers in!**

**Answers must be in by Sunday, please ****PM ****me your answer separate from your review for this chapter. I WILL NOT take your answer if it's in the reviews, we don't want to spoil the book for other people! (please review this chapter anyways after you PM, I love to hear what you think!) Ok, enough chitchat, here's your chapter!**

**District Five Reapings:**

**Nan Wetherall:**

Do you want to know the first thing that popped into my head the morning of the reaping? Numbers. Of all the things that could have popped into my head, I thought of numbers. Formulas, equations, problem solving, calculation after calculation, I could work them all out in my sleep. But of course what good does that do me here? When the world I lived in is so far away from me, nothing seems realistic. It just feels like a dream. Maybe it is a dream, a never-ending nightmarish dream. But even that thought seems distant right now; the wind bites altogether too cold here, but nothing can compare to the coldness I am feeling in my heart. Gone. She is gone.

I still remember my last morning before I left District five. I remember it so clearly, and think of it especially now when my homesickness is at its worst. Memories of home are the most precious thing now, they give me hope. Hope that I can do this, hope that I will be able to survive, hope, the hope I need to carry on. Things may be tough, but I cling to these memories. They give me something to live for. Something other than these games. Games, is that really what they are? Is that what my life has become to them? A game? No, I'm much more than that. I am Nan. I am the girl with a family who loves me, and a best friend who'd do anything to bring me home. Nan, the girl who had the brightest future in our district, who would go on to achieve great things. Nan, the girl with a big heart and a loving home. That is me, that's the me I need to remember. That's the me that I'm living for, even if I can't be that girl right now. I just need to close my eyes, and remember…..

I wolk up that morning at the same time I usually do. Of course, being a little scatterbrained, I had completely forgotten about the reapings at first. I went through my numbers as I walked down the steps for breakfast. "Good morning, Nan" my mother greeted as I sat down at the table. I immediately snapped back into reality. My mother was already setting breakfast on the table. My mom has long red hair like me, and is also a brilliant mathematic. She is working on a new mathematical tactic right now at the university. That's what I want to do when I grow up, but only the top people make it there. I am currently one of them, but that could change, so I have to work hard. "Good morning," I greeted. "Are you nervous about the reapings?" Oh right, the reapings. I had almost forgotten. "I.." I started. I was interrupted by a lot of giggling and strange noises. Turning around, I see my father bounding down the steps with Elisabeth clinging to his back. "Go daddy, go!" she cries. My dad sticks his arms out and continues to make his "airplane noises" until he reaches the table. "Here we are, the airplane has landed," he laughs, sliding Lizzy into her chair. " Good morning family."

"Good morning," I reply, laughing along with Elisabeth. "Good morning dear," my mother smiles, giving my father a quick peck on the check. He and my mother sit down as we begin to eat our breakfast. It tasted so delicious, but of course I took it for granted then. How was I suppose to know what was going to happen?

Our breakfast was filled with laughter and smiles and mindless chatter. My parents discuss the schools teaching program while my sister chats with me. My sister. So innocent, so trusting, so easily amazed. I love her to death. This morning she is a complete chatter box, talking about everything from the new friends she has made in school, to the math formulas they are working on, to the sweet little kitten she saw in the pet shop window. I listen and make comments here and there, although she does most of the talking. "Hey I'm sorry Lizzy, but I have to get ready right now, but I'd love to here more on the way to town," I say as soon as we are done eating. "ok," Lizzy says. With that I hurry up to my room to get ready for the reapings.

In my room, I start up the bathtub and hop in, rinsing off so that I am nice and clean. Once I get out, I wrap up in a towel and dry my hair. I have always loved the color, a bright shade of red, which no doubt, I have inherited from my mother. I brush and part in before it's completely dry. Even a little damp, it's beginning to curl on the ends. I go over to my closet and pull out my dress for today. It's a simple white gown with a green body lace. I braid my hair into pigtails and leave them draping over my shoulders for the reapings. My last touch is my great-great-great grandmother's turquoise necklace. I step back to look in the mirror. I see one girl with bright red hair. She has two eyes, two ears, one nose, and one mouth. Her hair is braided into two pigtails, tied with two green ribbons. She has one long silky dress and is wearing two black shoes to match. I smile as I walk out into the hallway. My mother taught me the mirror exercise when I was only four years old. It was meant to help me loosen up, calm down, and count. I still do it to this day; it gives me a little piece of mind.

As I head into the kitchen, I see my sister isn't there, so I head to her room. I knock on the door. "Lizzy, can I come in?" I ask. I push open the door to find Lizzy sitting at her desk, concentrating hard on a piece of paper. "Hey Lizzy, are you ok?" I ask. As I walk a little closer to her, I notice the tears rolling off of her check. Her hands fold into tiny fists. "I can't do it," she says, still not looking up at me. "You can't do what?" I ask her as I walk up beside her. "These problems, they're so hard! I can't do it, I'm not smart like you, I'm not even close to top of my class. I'm just nobody." She says, pushing the paper away and wiping her eyes. I don't hesitate to walk over and lay my hand on her shoulder. "Your not a nobody, Elisabeth, your smart, not everything is easy to get. " She still is sniffling. "I'll never get it, I'm just stupid." She says. "No your not, your brilliant and perfect just the way you are. Even I had trouble with these problems you're trying to do." I say. That gets her to peek up at me. "Really?" she asks. I nod. "Yep, they were tough for me, too." "But you probably didn't have as much trouble as me." She whimpers. "I'll never be like you."

That's when I pull her up by the hand. "Come here, I want to show you something." I say. I pull her over to the mirror and square her up. "Now, tell me what you see." She wipes her eyes and then looks into the mirror. "I see one girl with long black hair. She has two eyes, two ears, one nose, and one mouth. She is wearing one pink dress and two black shoes." She says methodically. "Yes, but you want to know what I see? I see a girl with one huge mind, who has enough brains to figure anything out no matter the difficulty. I see a girl with one big heart, who loves everything and is kind to everybody. And I see that that girl has one big bright future, that she will be number one and rise up to accomplish anything she sets her heart to," I tell her. "Really?" she asks, looking up at me. "Really," I reply, placing my hands on her shoulders.

My parents call us down and we hurry to the square. Lizzy is too young for the reapings, so she sits with my parents. I go off to find the 13's section, where my best friend just so happens to be waiting. "Nan!" She cries, giving me a huge hug. "Cal!" I laugh, hugging her back. My best friend, "Cal" Calculus, has been my friend for as long as I can remember. "And look! I brought Fred, just like I promised." She says. "Isn't he adorable?" Fred peeks out of her dress pockets. "Fred" is what she calls her little pet mouse. She saved him from a mousetrap in their basement, and nursed him to health. Ever since then, I can expect to see Fred everywhere we go. He is favorite pet, and she loves him to death. "Oh Cal," I laugh, shaking my head. Sometimes my best friend can be such a nutcase!

When I see our district rep walking up to the stage, I open my eyes. I can't see it, I can't bare to think of the reapings. To see my mother's terrified face as she buried her head into my father, to remember the way Cal screamed out in protest, and to see the look of confusion on my little sister's face. How can I ever face that memory again? How can I face all that has happened to me since my name was drawn out of the reaping ball?

And yet as the time drags on here, I must close my eyes. And I know exactly what I will find when I close them. I see faces, and faces, and faces, of the people I love. Each face is filled with more terror, pain, and grief than the next. Some things I can't escape from even in my dreams. But when I finally wake up to face the darkness, I feel no relief. My pain from the dream has only covered the pain that has led me here so far. No matter how many wounds I have received in the arena, nothing will ever compare to the wounds that have been slashed into my heart.

Coby:

How did I end up here? How did it come down to this? I had a perfect life, and I was happy, so why did it all have to go away? There was no sign, no warning, nothing to tell me what was about to happen. It was completely unexpected, surreal, delusional, and yet, here I am, in this manmade nightmare, with only two ways out; and frankly, I don't know which one I'd rather pick. Come back alive and the memories from the arena will haunt me for the rest of my life. Come back dead,…..and well, I don't know what to think. And frankly right now, the odds of option one aren't looking to good. And as far as option two, I'd rather do it myself than let one of the other tributes do it.

My mother had a saying, back in my home. She told me bad things always come in threes. Well, my bad luck started at the reapings. My name was drawn against all odds, and sent me here, to this awful place. I think that qualifies as a bad thing. Number two would be that my ally is gone. And alive at that, and while the numbers are deteriorating, the chances of us meeting again are very likely. Good, I hope so. Because if we do meet again, I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill that traitor. And the number three thing, well nothing big has really happened since then. And that's what scares me the most. The fact that there is still one more bad event that will scare my life. And it can happen anytime, anyplace, anywhere. And there is no one here to help me, I am alone. Right now, I feel so hopeless; so unbelievably lonely, and scared, and cold.

But as I sit here, my mind begins to wander. It begins to wander back to my home, my life, my district. When my eyes begin to flutter shut, I can see it. It's like I'm truly there again, back home, where I belong. And as I sit there, remembering, I let my mind slowly drift back to the one memory I fear the most. The reaping day.

That morning felt no different than any of the other mornings before it. Three years, for three years I had never been picked. I should have guessed it from that. Maybe that is proof that good things also come in threes. Because this year, I was to be picked. I was the one going to the Hunger Games. That day sticks to me more than any of the other days since then. It was the last time I saw my home, and perhaps the last time I ever will. But of course, back then, I didn't know that.

I am woken by the streams of sunlight pouring in my room and shining on my face. I sigh as I flicker my eyes open. My sister is up already, I can tell by the singing. My sister really got it all. Not only is she second in her class, but she is the best singer in our district by far. "la da da, la da da, hm hm hm hm hmm," Her voice carries the sweet soft melody to my ears. No words, never any words, but soft and melodic tunes.

I push the covers off of me and step out of bed, heading slowly to my sister's room. When I get there, I push open the door. I find my sister up brushing her long hair. "Good morning, Janie," I say. "Morning," she says."Are mom and dad up yet?" I ask her. She nods her head." Mom's making breakfast downstairs with dad.""Well I'm going down if you want to join me," I tell her, heading for the door. "Sure, I'll be down in a minute," she replies, continuing to brush. I smile as I head down the stairs. My mom told my sister that in the olden days, girls use to run a brush through their hair 100 times to keep it nice and silky. My sister has recently taken up this, "hobby", so to speak. Personally, I don't get it, and I really don't see a difference in her hair at all, but I know better than to say anything. Anyways, she sings while she brushes, and I don't really mind that.

As I head down the stairs, I see my father sitting at the table. My mom is making the breakfast, I can already smell it. I really love mornings. My parents work all day, and I'm gone to school, so the mornings are the time of the day when we can actually have some family time. It's nice. "Morning, mom, dad," I say taking my seat at the table. "Morning," my dad says looking up from his paper. "Good morning dear," my mother says sweetly, placing some bacon and eggs on my plate.

"Is your sister coming down?" my father asks. "Yea, I think she'll be down in a few minutes," I reply. "Actually, I'm going to be down in a few seconds," I hear Janie correct, bounding down the stairs behind me. "Morning mother, morning father." "Morning honey," my mother says, scooping some food onto her plate. She serves herself before setting the pan back on the stove and coming over to join us.

We talk while we eat. My parents ask us about school and sports, the same usual type of thing. Once my plate is clean, I take it to the sink to wash it off, before heading back upstairs to get ready for the reapings. My mom stops me on the way up to hand me my outfit. "I just washed it, so it would be clean for this afternoon." "Thanks mom," I reply heading back to my room. There I slip on my light blue shirt and my black dress pants. Then I secure on my dad's dark blue tie, just as he had shown me a few years ago. When I am done, I run a brush once or twice through me hair and head downstairs to wait for my family.

Of course my father is already down there, sitting on the couch. "Your mother is up helping Janie get ready, they'll be down in a few minutes. I nod and join him on the couch. Well a "few" minuets took a lot longer than a "few minutes". But when I see my sister coming down the steps, she looks absolutely beautiful. The sides of her long black hair have been braided around the back of her head, no doubt my mother's handiwork, and the rest of it falls over her shoulder. She is wearing a long dark blue dress, simple, but beautiful. But the real touch is her necklace. It is a long gold chain with a clear blue stone sitting in gold in the shape of a heart. It's a family heirloom, given to my grandma from her mother, and so forth. My mother comes down behind her. "Well, are we ready to go?" I ask. I don't need an answer; we just head to the door.

We walk all the way to the town square where the reaping will take place. There my parents say goodbye and I walk Janie to her section. When we get there, she throws her arms around me. "Good luck, I'll see you after the reapings ok?" she whispers. I nod. "bye," I say, heading off to my section. We should be fine. Our family has never needed tessera, so our chances are slim to none. But even my sister the know-it-all worries sometimes.

When I get to my section, I look around until I spot my friends. Emilotte waves me down with a smile, and I push my way over to them. "Hey," she says. "Hey," I reply. "so anything new?" I ask. "Well, now that you mention it," I hear a familiar voice say. I turn around to find Sisco standing behind me. I find my best friend in a light pink suit with a rose in the pocket. Now that's a sight to see! I can see Emilotte barely suppressing a laugh behind me. While me, I don't even try. I notice his angry glares as I start to chuckle. "So, Sisco, ..What's with the suit?" I ask smiling the whole time. "It used to be white; one of my dad's red socks got mixed up in the load." He growls. "Nice," I laugh. I exchange glances with Emilotte. He looks totally ridiculous!

The reapings start in no time, and the mayor walks up to the stage. It's his first year As mayor, and so he looks extremely nervous. He stumbles over the words as he tells us the story behind the Hunger Games. He speaks so quickly that I can barely understand what he is saying! Once he finishes up, he calls up our district representative, Zela Trinks. I hate to say it, but she is totally obnoxious and completely disorganized. She stumbles up on the stage nearly two minuets _after_ they call her name! I can see she looks a little tipsy as she walks over to the microphone. This year she is wearing bubblegum pink and cotton candy blue dress with ten inch purple heels and her skin shines a deep platinum. Her hair has been died rainbow and falls down straight over her shoulders. How she ever made it up as high as this district I don't know. She looks around in her papers before finally clearing her throat and beginning the mentor process.

We have five living victors, two girls and three boys. The girls victor is Jezel merrington. I don't rember her games, but she doesn't look dark and dangerous at all. She seems, quite nice actually. Unhappy at the day's events, but not depressed or out of it. She might actually make a great mentor. As far as the boy's mentor, they pick an older guy that looks completely bewildered and out of it. He doesn't look like much of a mentor, in fact I don't even think he knows where he is right now. I feel sorry for whoever the boy tribute is for this year.

When she is done, she walks over to the reaping ball and pulls out the girls slip. "uh, Nan Wetherall," she calls out. I see a small red haired girl walk up on stage, trying her best not to cry. Poor kid, I think to myself. Poor anyone who has to go to these games. Then they move to the boys reaping ball. I remember her hand getting stuck, her hand catching three slips instead of one. She drops one back in the bowl. One. Then she drops the second. Two. Then she smooths out the last strip. "Coby Reuben," she reads. "Coby Reuben, Coby Reuben, Coby Reuben….."

I immediately open my eyes, my heart racing. I can still hear my name ringing in my ears. Coby Reuben, Coby Reuben, Coby Reuben,…. All of a sudden, I get a tingling feeling on the back of my neck. I'm not imagining it, I hear my name. Then I slowly, taking a deep breath, turn around...


	10. District Six Reapings

**Hey everyone! We're finally halfway through the reapings, wohoo! We have 6 more reapings to go, and if all goes well, they should be out by the end of the month! I promise, as soon as the reapings are over, the story will be getting faster paced. I am already working on the basic outline for inside the arena, and I will be randomizing the POV's after the reapings, so everything should be faster paced (but with the same type of detail and incite, lol, that's just my style!) **

**Ok, so this chapter features Velvet Springs created by Abby Hale is Team Salvador. It was fun to write about her reaping, you'll see why ;P This chapter also features ****Franz Zancaster created byDramione4evs. I found him fun to write because he reminds me of Dudly from Harry Potter ;) There will be no sponsor question for this chapter. OK without further to do, District 6! Please tell me what you think!**

District Six : 

Velvet Springs:

"Meow! Meow! MEOW!" It comes this morning like it does every morning. "Just five more minuets, Striker!" I plead. But of course, he won't listen. He never listens. Striker is like my own personal alarm clock,only _**he **_doesn't come with a snooze button! Striker is a fairly large brown tabby that Holly and I found when we were walking home from school. He was in the lake and we thought he was drowning. When we approached him, we found that he wasn't drowning at all; he was swimming! Holly pulled him out of the water and we took him home to get him fed and cleaned up. Ever since then, he has been living in our house, eating the food, and going about his daily duties. Unfortunaly, his "duties" include getting me up for swim practice. Of course I can't go swimming today, today is the reaping. But of course Striker doesn't know that, so he proceeds with his usual wake-up call.

"MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" Alarm stage two: He has shoved his way through the door and hopped up on my bed, continuing to meow just out of reach of my hands, and to my dismay, my feet. Alarm stage three: Striker is now pacing back and forth meowing at the top of his lungs. I will not give in, I will not give in. Alarm stage four: he approaches my head and tugs on a strand of my hair very persistently. I smile, but I do not move. Now he has reached stage five. When he reaches this stage, he gives up all dignity and starts whining and crying until I pay attention to him. Of course, hearing his pathetic cries gets me to laugh. "Aww, it's ok, I'm up." I sigh, sitting up and stroking his fur. He responds with a dull soft purring. I take it in for now; it won't last once he finds out we won't be swimming today.

Just as I have got Striker settled down, my mom walks in the door. "Is everything ok, honey?" she asks. "I could hear Striker screeching from all the way downstairs." "Yea, everything's ok." I reply. I see relief on her face. "Good," she says, coming fully in the door now. Once she is in, I can see the tray of breakfast she is carrying. "I hope you're hungry. I made you some breakfast." She sets the tray down on my lap, carefully avoiding Striker, who is giving her death glares. They don't exactly "get along" but when she brings in food, he will tolerate her. "When you're done, just take the tray to the kitchen, and I'll take care of washing it. Then we get can you all dressed up!" With that, she gives me a smile, and leaves the room. I look down at the tray, grimacing. She left, just like that; not even mentioning what the whole day was about. The reaping. My mother is delusional, completely delusional. She is always thinking our family is safe and always will be, but I know better. The reapings are a reminder that no one is safe, including me. Today is my first reaping.

My father comes into the room only moments after my mother leaves. He has that expression on his face. He comes over to sit on my bed. "So, how are you feeling? Are you nervous?" he asks. "A little," I reply. "Just remember what I've taught you and it'll be alright. You're a smart girl," he encourages. I know what he is referring to. While my mother is still living in her own little delusional world, my father has secretly been training me in knife throwing. He knows that this world isn't safe, so he has been preparing me so if I do go to the arena, I won't be completely useless. "So, I was thinking, that after you are all done eating and dressed, we could go visit Holly." "Yes, yes, a million times yes!" I shout excitedly. Holly is my older sister. She married this man named Jon about a year ago, so I of course I miss her a ton. Almost everyone has a job at age 16, and plenty are married by age 18,but that doesn't make me miss her any less.

My father laughs and pats me on my shoulder. "Ok, well I'll let you finish eating and I'll go say good morning to your brother." He tells me before leaving the room. I hurry up to finish my breakfast, and rush the tray downstairs. Striker, of course, is horribly confused right now. He has figured out we are not swimming, but once he heard Holly's name he has been pacing and impatient. "Oh be quiet kitty," I tell him as I slip on my dress. "I miss Holly just as much as you do." My reaping outfit is my favorite dress. It is puffy, and is patterned like a black and red checkerboard. I absolutely adore it. I put my long black hair into a ponytail and secure it with a red bow. Lastly, I put on my favorite black headband.

I have just gotten on my shoes when my mother walks in. "Oh,"she says simply, her smile faltering. Of course she still wants me to be like Holly with my tastes in clothing. But she knows she won't get me anywhere near those pink frilly dresses!"You look lovely. Now let's do your makeup." She helps apply red lipstick to my lips and brushes on a little light blush before softly outlining my eyes. I am more patient than usual through the whole thing, but as soon as she is done I can't wait a second longer. "Are we going to see Holly now?" I ask. She laughs. "As soon as we get your brother out here."

My mother leaves to help out my brother and it feels like forever before he finally comes out. "Heya Velvet," he greets me with a smile. Bryan is a spitting image of my father, from his dark brown eyes and pale skin, to his rational thinking and confident nature. He has my mother's hair though, just like me. "What took you so long?" I ask. "Well this kind of beauty takes a while to make," he says grinning from ear to ear. I give him a playful shove. Brothers.

We hurry out the door to Holly's house. It's all the way at the end of the village section of district 6, one of the smaller of the town houses, but nice none the less. I am so excited to see her, that I impatiently jump around on her porch until my family catches up with me. I hastily ring the doorbell. My sister answers the door. "Aww Velvet, Mom, dad, Bryan, it's so good to see you!" I break out in a huge smile. She looks exactly like she did when she was married; her skin is creamy pale, her eyes shine a bursting green, and her auburn curls still fall around her shoulders and down to her waist. Except now, her stomach has gotten even bigger. She is seven months pregnant.

She invites us in where we see her husband, Jon. There is so much catching up to do! We talk and talk away. "I have an announcement," she says happily looking up at Jon and taking his hand. "We have decided on a name for the baby." Holly and Jon had already worked on getting a midwife for the delivery, and she had told them that they were going to have a little girl. And if there is one thing that everyone agrees on in district six, it's that if midwife Maryiln says you are having a girl, you are having a girl. She takes a deep breath before announcing with a smile,"We are going to name our daughter, Rosy." I squeal. Rosy, my new niece now has a name. "That's great!" I laugh. I'm going to be an aunt.

After we have visited for a while, we decide to walk to the square together. On our way, I see my friends, Wesley and Hazel walking together in front of us. "Go on, I'll see you after the reapings," my sister says nudging me towards my friends. With that I say goodbye to my family and run to catch up with my friends. As I approach, I see them holding hands. As soon as they see me, they let their hands drop. This only assures me what I've been assuming for a year. They're dating, I know it. Not that they'd tell me. "hey!' I say smiling brightly. "Heya Velvet!" Hazel chirps. "Hey," Wesley nods. "Anything going on here?" I ask with a smirk. Hazel blushes a little bit. "We were just heading to the reapings. What's up with you?" she replies quickly. "Well, my sister has decided to name her baby Rosy!" "Oh, that's so cute!" She exclaims. We all agree it'll be a perfect name for their baby.

We talk and joke around all the way to the town square. It almost makes today feel like a normal day! Until we reach the square, that is. We are marched into our sections. This is our first reaping. Inside the square, there are a bunch of nervous 12 year olds. I spot Marny, and we head over to stand by her. Marny's is even quieter than usual today. Even Wesley's bubbly personality seems dimmed by the day's event looming over us. We don't have long to wait, though. Our district rep comes onto the stage. We have a new district representative this year. She introduces herself as Sunshine Fritter. I want to puke just from her name. Then I see her. She is true to her name. She has on a bright yellow dress that reflects light like the sun; it's hard to even look at her. Her skin has been dyed a golden brown, and her hair is long and blonde, streaked with orange and red. Her eyes have been outlined in gold, her lips have been painted a deep red, and she has on a Sunkist look. She doesn't look all frilly and fruity, like her name, thankfully. In fact, she doesn't look bad at all. Not that I'd be caught dead wearing that dress!

Sunshine is a lot quieter than most district representatives. She is more sweet than peppy. She says hello and welcomes us to the reapings. Then she announces our mentors for this year. The girls mentor is Lily sanders. She seems nice enough as she walks onto the stage, but I don't remember seeing her games. She must have won when I was little. The boy's mentor is Laika Jovie. Again, I don't know too much about her, but she looks depressed to me. They had to pick a girl to be the boy mentor because we don't have any male victors still alive. Our most recent male victor died from lung cancer two years ago.

Once our mentors are up on stage, she glides lightly over to the girls reaping ball. Carefully, she puts her hand into the ball and digs for a name. Then she announces the name on the slip of paper. Right now I am hoping and praying that it isn't me. And it isn't. It's Holly Summers. My sister.

I frantically search through the crowds, still in shock from the announcement. I hear the crowd murmurs of displeasure, even our district representative gasps when she sees Holly. Holly is heading up on the stage, holding her stomach, with tears in her eyes. I catch sight of my mother, burying her head in my father's shoulder, and Jon, standing helplessly in the corner of the square. Is there no other option? My sister, she can't go to the arena. Not like this, not ever, but especially not now. I see her and her child, my sister and my baby niece, I can see flashes of their future, a future that she will no longer have if she goes to the Hunger Games. So there is no other option; there is only one solution. And so without even second guessing it, I let the words escape my lips. "I volunteer!"

Franz Zancaster:

When I wake up, I, there is something missing. My breakfast. I can't see it, I can't smell it, I don't even hear movement in the kitchen. What a disappointment, especially today! "MOTHER!" I yell. I get no reply. "MOTHER!" Finally, I hear he reply."Coming Sweetheart!" she yells back up. Grr, why does my family have to be _sooo_ incompetent!

A few minuets later my mom comes rushing through the door, carrying a tray of food and doing her best to try to not spill it. She carries it as fast as she can over to my bedside. "Her you are, dear," she says placing the tray on my lap. I give her a glare, which she returns with puppy-dog eyes. Right, like_ that's _really going to work on me! "Mom, you're late," I huff. "I know, I overslept, I'm so sorry my baby, I.." she starts, but I put my hand up. "You are late. What are you going to get me? My morning schedule is now all messed up thanks to you. What are you going to do about it?" I demand. She pats my head and gives me a gentle touch to my face. "Dear, I'm ..so sorry, but I.." "Nope, I am hurt you forgot your only child. I am ashamed to call you my mother." I say, pushing her away from me. That should do the trick. "No Franz!" she wails. "Mommy is sorry! We're going to get you a, a, a new high definition television for your room! Yes and a beautiful fountain for your bedside! Please, please talk to me, I love you!"

Well, I guess that will do. "Alright, I'll let it go this time, but It better not happen again." I reply. She nods and walks out of my room. I eye my breakfast with disgust. It's a smaller portion than it usually is, but at least she got the menu right. I mean, 5 slices of bacon, three cups of scrambled eggs, an omelet, a bowl of cereal, and two pieces of butter and jam toast, I swear she is trying to starve me! I hastily gobble down all the food and lick my fingertips clean. Then I get up to shower, I've got to look my best for the reapings.

Once I dry off, I grab my black suit out of the closet. It's been made by the best tailors in district 8. We had it especially bought for this year's reapings, and of course, I look AMAZING in it! I smile at the thought of the oohs and ahhs I know I will get at the square. It's perfect, just perfect! Except, it's stuck! The bottom button won't button. Hum, that's funny. I know I'm not the slimmest person in the world, but this can't be happening!

My mother arrives at the door as I am buttoning up the last few buttons. "Franz, may I comb your hair?" she asks, her voice still quivering from earlier. "Yes, that's what you're _supposed _to do." I say. "Idiot," I mutter under my breath. She comes over and runs a comb through my hair, fixing it up so it is nice and even. Once I am satisfied, I wave her away. "Meet me downstairs in five minuets, and don't be late," I instruct. Once she leaves, I rush over to my dresser. Inside the top drawer, I pull out the pin Alia gave me. It was her gift to me when we met, she was wearing it on her dress, and I told her it was nice, so she gave it to me. It competes my outfit.

After I secure the pin, I march downstairs to meet my parents. They are waiting at the door. "Ready, son?" my dad asks opening the door. I walk out, followed by my mother and father. On our way there, I spot my friends Alia and Kennith. "No need to walk with me, I've got my friends .I'll see you after the reaping," I say to my parents, rushing up to meet my friends. They look startled when the see me, and glace at each other nervously. They're obviously feeling flustered at the sight of me. I smile as I walk up to them. So naïve, to be nervous in the presence of one so perfect and handsome.

"Hello," I say as I reach them. "Hey,..Frantz," Alia says. They aren't making room for me, so I push my way in-between them. "Hello, Frantz," Kennith says. "well today is a bad day," I say. "Sure," says Alia. "I agree, I don't really like the reapings, but..""No, no, not that. My parents, the're really slacking," I say. They don't need to say anything, I know they want to hear, who wouldn't? So I continue on with my story until we reach the square. We just make it, and we are marched off into the group of fifteen year olds. There, our new district rep, Sunshine Fritter, begins. The mayor has already read his story, so she picks the new mentors. Then she moves quickly onto the girls. Some lady is picked, and the crowd goes into a whole ruckus. Me, I could care less. All this commotion and volunteering is slowing down the afternoon, and I don't want to miss lunch!

Finally, they get to the boys. Sunshine digs her hand through the reaping ball until she finds a slip of paper. "Franz Zancaster," she reads. No, no, no! This isn't supposed to happen. Refuse to go up to the stage. "I don't wanna go! MOTHER! FATHER! MAKE THEM LET ME GO!" I scream as two of the peacekeepers grab me by the arm and march me up on stage. "Alia, Kennith, do something!" I protest as I look to my friends. They just avoid my eyes. "This is soooo not fair, this reaping was rigged! They just want to kill me because I'm beautiful!" I screech as Sunshine, looking quite nervous, accepts the role of duct tape from an audience member and tears off a piece to wrap around my mouth. "NOOO! I DON"T WANT TO GO!" I yell, pushing the peacekeepers off me and attempting to head off stage. That's when one of the peacekeepers next to me pulls out a needle and sticks it right into my arm. And I black out.


	11. District Seven Reapings

**Heya everyone! Long time no new post, I know, I'm still trying to fit writing into my schedule now that everything's gone crazy with summer ending ;P But we're still moving along, so no worries of a discontinue ;) I got good and bad reviews on the flashbacks, so I probably won't be doing flashbacks anymore, they were just a little trial thing for a chapter so the rest will probably be normal chapters. But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve still, one I think all of you will enjoy that has something to do with one of the mentors ;) which you'll find out later.**

**This chapter features Ratherly "Rat" Donnikan created by sleetinthesummer and Skye Windell created by Yume no Tsubasa. Both were, needless to say, very unique characters and I had a fun time writing both of them ****oh wow, I just figured out how to make a real smiley face on word! ****lol sorry bout that. Anyways, so back to what I was saying. Skye Windell's POV might be a little strange to read for all of you, but this is the way I felt it best to portray her because of her personality and lifestyle. If you've read the barcode rebellion by Suzanne Weyn, you'll see similarities between Skye and the last girl, k6 was it? I think so, lol it's been a while since I've read it. Anyways,**

**Sponsor Question: There are two of them today, so each one is worth half a point! Don't worry if you only get one, I'll be putting another half setter pair in one of the later reapings, so everyone will have a full point somewhere down the line!**

**SQ1. Who does Mrs. Windell remind you of from the Harry Potter series? Lol yes, there is only one right answer that I'm thinking of ;) **

**SQ2. What can you tell about Rat by his way of thinking about the outcome of things, how things will turn out. How does he convince himself there will be a positive outcome?**

**District Seven Reapings:**

Skye Windell:

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. A heartbeat. That's what I hear. Wshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wshhhhhhhhhhh. Water. kaca! Kaca! Kaca! Bird. Thump. Thump. Thump. Heartbeat. All of the noises blend together into a beautiful song of sounds. And it urges me on. Each noise balances out the other exactly right. Each sound corresponds to the heartbeat drumming I hear. This is my lullaby. This is my song.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound continues on, but it's loosing its rhythm. It's wild, it's almost like, almost like it's coming from just below me…. My eyes flicker open as I glance down below me. Of course. There below me is one of district 7's many lumber workers, hacking away at my tree. Why is it always my tree? Very carefully, I push myself up into a sitting position and grab my bag. I try to be as carful as possible to avoid making any noise. Then I look around for the nearest tree. Great, the nearest one is just out of jumping distance. But I know how to fix this. I get into position and wait. Just as the lumber worker hacks through the final piece of the trunk, my tree begins to fall over. That's when I gather up my strength and run across the tree, making a leap for the safety of the next one. I hook myself around the branch and turn back to my "visitor". He saw something, I think, because he is looking curiously in my direction. Luckily, I am hidden behind a cloak of leaves and branches, so I stay still and hope he doesn't notice me. He takes three steps towards my tree before he stops. Then and closes his eyes and shakes his head, muttering something beneath his breath. The only words I can make out are a lot of grumbling and something about a wild girl. Wild girl. That's me.

Making sure my bag is still clasp around my shoulders, I hop farther into the woods from tree to tree until I am a safe distance away from the forest line. Once I reach my favorite pine tree, I scale up the branches until I break through the top of the tree. The sky, so blue and beautiful, I love it. I situate myself on the top branch and take in the beauty. The forest is my home, and this is my tree, it has grown to the sky just as I have grown over the past 15 years. My tree. I unzip my bag and pull out the berries I gathered yesterday along with the chunk of cheese Glade gave me yesterday. "The reapings are in a few days, and I want you to have it, you know, in case you have to eat out somewhere else on the reaping morning." Glade is my sweet and loving foster sister. She knows me all too well.

I eat up the food until every last crumb is gone. There is not much time this morning for reflecting. Instead I gather up my things and climb down my tree, until I reach the ground. I am far enough in that I will not meet any lumber workers, and it's getting late enough that I will have no problem getting back to town either. I make my way through the forest to the lake alcove. There I strip down and jump into the lake to get cleaned up. I wash the dirt and mud from my skin and pick all the leaves out of my hair. Then when I am nice and clean, I step out and walk over to my pack to pull out a towel that I swiped from my foster home. After I dry off my skin and squeeze the water from my hair, I slip on my spare set of clothes. Their my nicer set, consisting of a green t-shirt and my brown pants. I put my other outfit into my bag and slip on my boots. Then I take my necklace and tuck it under my shirt like always. I'm am always afraid it will get caught on a branch and tug off without me noticing. My necklace is a small silver chain with a wing charm on it. It is the most precious thing I own. I never take it off. Ever. With it safely tucked into my shirt, I make my trek back to the village. My foster mother will be worried if she doesn't get to see me before the reapings.

15 years ago, my foster father, Jasper Windell, found me in a tall pine tree wrapped in a tight bundle of cloth. There was no one else around, no note, nothing. The only thing he could find with me was a silver necklace with winged charm. My necklace. It was the only thing from my past life. No one had any idea where I came from or who I am, so the Windells' adopted me. Even so, I hate to leave the forest. It is my home, my true home. Out in the fresh air under the blue sky. Skye. That's me. Named for the great blue wall of air above our world.

My walking soon turns to running as the sun begins to row higher in the air. I take the back routes, their shorter than going through town. And there shouldn't be any people, not with the reapings beginning soon. I rush through the woods as fast as my legs can carry me, until I reach the back of my foster family's little log cabin. There is smoke rising from the chimney; they must still be home. I make my way through their backyard until I reach the backdoor. Then I quietly slip inside.

Inside, I arrive just in time to see Autumn, my foster mother, rounding the hallway corner. She looks surprised when she sees me, then lets a smile grown on her face. "Oh! Hey family, Skye is home! Hello Skye, how are you?" she asks flipping on the lights. I jump as a glowing light turns on above me, and raise my hands to shield my eyes from the brightness. "Oh, I'm sorry," she says quickly flipping off the lights. "I forgot. Here, let's open some of the shades." She quickly runs over to the windows to let in some light. "There, that's better." She says brushing her hands together then coming over to me and enveloping me in her arms. "It's so good to see you!" I accept her hug and give her a little squeeze back.

"Jasper, Glade! Get out here!" she turns to yell back down the hallway. Then she turns back to me. "Anything I can get you, dear?" I shake my head. "No? Oh well, let me at least take your dirty clothes, I can get them back to you tonight, as good as new!" I get my dirty clothes out of my pack and hand them to her. "Oh goodness, what have you been doing out there? These are filthy! Never mind, I'll fix that." She says taking the clothes from me and heading for the kitchen to get a bag for them. Just then, Glade and Jasper round the corner. "Skye!" Glade exclaims rushing over to me. "It's so good to see you!" She gives me a big hug. Unlike my foster mother's hug, hers is less suffocating. When she pulls away she smiles. Jasper walks up to me and ruffles my hair. "Good to see you, kid." He mumbles.

"Here you go, here's some food for the week, I made sure to pack a lot of breads and some cheese, I know how you love them," my foster mother tells me, coming back from the kitchen with a load of food in her arms. She tucks them into my bag. "You know you are always welcomed to stay here." She says. I nod. "Well, we best be off to the square, it is almost reaping time!" my foster father says. "Oh yes, right, off we go!" my foster mother exclaims, rushing us all to the door.

Jasper and Autumn walk ahead of us, and me and Glade walk side by side. That's one of the things I love about Glade. She doesn't try to start a conversation. We can understand each other perfectly without words. We walk silently to town square. I'm glad that we don't speak much today, with the reapings hanging over us any conversation would be overshadowed. The reapings make me angry, and I know Glade agrees. What right do the Capital people have to force us into these towns and make us work as their slaves? Why don't they do it themselves? I'm so sick of them forcing us into cutting down the trees and using up resources so wastefully, it makes me sick. Those things belong to Mother Nature. You take only what you need and leave the rest be. And the whole thing with taking kids and forcing them to kill each other? It's wrong, just wrong….

We reach the town square right on time. "Goodbye Glade, goodbye Skye! Good luck! We'll find you after the reapings," Autumn calls out to us as we are rushed into the fifteens section. Glade and I slip quietly in back. Then the mayor steps on stage right on que, and tells the story of the hunger games. Then he calls up our new district representative. I think she is new to the games entirely. And quite frankly, she scares me. She is dressed in a short purple dress with tall thin pointy heels that can't be less than six inches. Her skin is pasty white and her hair is long and tangled black. Her lips are a dark red, the color of the clay mud after it rains, and her eyes are smeared with such a dark purple and outlined in such a dark black color, it sends chills down my spine. Makeup, yes, that's what it must be. I know about it because of my foster mother, she owns a tube of light pink lip gloss; I've seen her put it on a few times for special occasions. She showed it to me, it's all mushy and sticky. Why anyone would want to put that stuff on their mouth I haven't the slightest idea! And as far as who would want to put such makeup like our new rep, well, they'd have to be insane. Which I can pretty much guarantee anyone from the Capitol is. They're even stranger than the people from the town, who use things like lights that glow from the ceiling and water that runs through pipes.

Our new representative glides up onto the stage and introduces herself with a strange smile. "Hello district seven. I am Moonlight Savery. Happy Hunger Games, let the reapings begin…." She says. Her voice is chilling, and there's an amusing gleam in her eyes that shows what she really thinks of the activities. I could have sworn she was looking right at me when she said it, too. Glade is spooked by our new representative as much as I am. She grabs my hand and we give each other a reassuring squeeze. She quickly moves to pick our mentors for the year. We have had a few over the years and she picks out Franky Suter and Millow Reed. I don't know anything about them. I don't even pay attention to the games anyways, though I am forced to watch them. Capitol's rules. And I am no excuse.

Moonlight is straight forward, unlike our last representative. She doesn't lag or mess around, she get's straight to the point. She quickly swipes a slip out of the girl's bowl. Glade squeezes my hand even tighter. "Glade Weatherall," Moonlight reads out, smiling. No, no, no,no,no,no, not Glade! I turn to my foster sister as she starts shaking and pulls away from me to walk up onto the stage. Not Glade, she is my sister, she is sweet, and kind, and caring, and more importantly she is my friend. I know everything about the woods, how much different can the ones in the arena be? And Glade, she knows nothing of them. She can hardly bring herself to come into the woods to find me. She won't last long at all if she had to live in them. I turn to my foster mother who is crying from the whole thing, and my foster father who is quivering at the sight of his little girl going up onto the stage. She may not be able to survive in the woods, but I can. 15 years ago, I was the one they saved, the one they took in and sheltered. Now it's my turn to repay them. I take a deep breath as I get up the courage to step onto the stage. Going to the Hunger Games is the easy part. Now I have to do the thing that scares me most of all. And so now, for the very first time, I turn to face the people of district seven. My name is Skye. And I am the wild girl.

Ratherly "Rat" Donnikan:

One minuet, I'm in my bed, and then the next, I am standing in an empty lobby area. Huh, that's weird. I look down at myself and find that I am now dressed in a full black tux with a rose and everything. I am startled. How did I get here? Where is "here" anyways? I look around. From what I can tell, I am in the Justice Building. The Justice Building. I only go there once a year, to sign up for tesserae. But I would know the building lobby anywhere, and this is it. I turn around to where the outside door is, and reach out for the handle, but to my surprise it's not there! Strange, very strange. So, instead I make my way slowly down the hall. My footsteps echo throughout the hallway. The silence is eerie, and the only sound I can make out is the tapping of my shoes against the floor. I walk until I reach the double doors for the main room. When I get there, I open them and walk cautiously inside. The room has been rearranged, and as far as I can tell, none of it is the usual furnishings. In fact, the only time I've seen it rearranged like this was last year for our mayor's funeral…..funeral….My heart is pounding as I walk down the main isle to the casket that lies in front of me. No, it can't be…. I walk slowly up to the casket to look down on the body that lies within it. I would know her face anywhere. It's my mother.

I scream, before sitting up in bed. It was a dream, just a dream. Still, I don't want to take any chances. I throw off my covers and run as fast as I can to the room next door. "Mother! Are you ok?" I ask, running up to her bedside. She groans and turns to me, coughing. "Ratherly? Yes, I'm ok. Is everything alright?" she asks. I sigh with relief as I walk over to take her hand. "yes, I'm alright. Just a,..bad dream, that's all." I mutter. "Oh I'm sorry, honey. I would have come but my legs, .. they aren't exactly as good as they use to be." She replies. Who is she trying to kid? Even now, she is still trying to protect me from life, trying to be strong for me. For almost for almost two years now, my mother has been deathly ill. She is barley able to even step out of bed, let alone take care of me, although she does try. I admire her for that; her life hasn't been easy. My father left us when I was a baby, and so my mother has raised me all by herself. But she isn't getting better. And I can't be too careful, I can't let her leave. She's got to get better. She just has to; because I love her.

"It's alright. I'm going to go make us some breakfast," I say, pulling away to go and prepare the food. We don't have much, we never had. A single parent, especially a woman in a lumber district, can never make a lot. But she made enough so that we could get by. And now with her sick, I work in the woods after school chopping lumber. It doesn't pay much, but it pays enough. Even so, I still don't have enough to buy my mom's medicine. The kind she needs is expensive. Capitol expensive. It'll be years before I can save up enough money for a small vial of the stuff, and even then I'd have to be promoted two new positions a year. My best hope is that she will get better without the medicine. I don't know if she will. But I have to believe that. I've got no other choice.

I look in the fridge and pull out some bread. We keep it in the fridge to preserve it from bacteria. Taking it out, I pull out two pieces and place them in our old toaster. I make sure to keep an eye on it as it cooks; the lever is broken so you have to pop it up manually. After the toast is done, I put a small amount of margarine on it, along with a little honey I collected from my trip to the woods. After all, it's the reaping day. We've got to have something special. Like there's anything worth celebrating. This year, my mom has been excused. She doesn't have to go to the reapings because of her sickness. When I got the news I feel a pain in my gut, and it wrenches at my heart. They only give reaping excuses to people who are on death's door. How long does she have? A day? A week? A month? It worries me every day and haunts me every night.

After I am done cooking our breakfast, I pour us each a glass of water and head back to my mother's room. "oh thank you, Ratherly," my mother says when I place the tray on her lap. "This smells so delicious," she says smiling weakly. I force on a smile in return. "So, how are things at school?" my mother asks as she raises the toast to her mouth. "Good, no great, really," I lie. Things aren't going great. They're going bad. But I don't want to worry her. Between my job and helping her, I barley have time for homework. I may be smart, but I'm no superhero."Oh good, I know you're such a smart boy," she says. She's always been proud of me. We talk and chat as we finish our breakfast. "Alright mother, I have to go get ready for the reapings," I tell her. It's quarter till reaping time. I've left barley enough time to get dressed and to the square. "Oh ok, but Ratherly, I've got a present for you," she says softly. I turn around. A present? Where could she have gotten something like that for me? We don't have the money for anything like that. "What is it, mother?" I ask. She points to her closet. "It's in there, dear. I'm sorry it's so old, but I thought you might want something different to wear to the reapings, something instead of that old blue shirt, it's getting holes in it now, and I, I've seen what other boys are wearing your age and I think you might want something a little nicer."

I open up the closet, but as far as I can see, there are just my mother's dresses. "In the back," she coughs out. I push back the clothes to find a crimson red dress shirt with gold buttons down the middle. All I can do is look at it." it was your father's. He married me in that shirt, you know. It was the only thing he left behind after,… and well, I thought you might want to have it. It should fit you by now," she explains weakly. I grab the shirt out of the closet. "It's amazing, thank you so much," I say turning around. "Oh your welcome. Why don't you put it on? I'd love to see how you look in it," she says with a smile. I nod my head and head into my room. There I slip on my black pants and button up the shirt. It's a perfect fit.

Then I head back to my mother's room. Her eyes light up when she sees me. "Oh, you look so handsome, just like your father," she says. I can hear the pain in her voice as she says this. She really did love my father. But she loves me even more." Yeah, I love it. Thank you," I say. I do, I really do. "I'm sorry mom, but I have to go to the reapings. I'll be back as soon as they're over, I promise," I tell her after I give her a hug and kiss her on the cheek. "Ok, I love you," she says as I walk out the door. I stop at the frame and look back on her small fragile figure lying in bed. "I love you to,…"

I make my way as fast as I can to the town square. As I check into the seventeen section, I spot Josafina, my girlfriend. "Rat!" she cries, rushing over to me and throwing her arms around me. "It's so good to see you," I return her hug. "Same to you." I say as we pull away. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit more often, it's just…." I say quietly. She looks at me, concerned. "How is she?" she whispers. "Not very good. She's been excused," I mumbled. I can see Josafina's eyes start to gloss over. "Oh Rat,.." she whispers. She doesn't have much time to comfort me. The reapings are beginning.

Our new district representative steps up onto the stage after an introduction from our mayor. She looks scary, honestly, her makeup is so dark and her expression is absolutely chilling. Thankfully, she gets right to the point. She picks the two mentors for the year, and then moves straight onto the girls. I hold my breath as she pulls out a slip. Please don't take my girl, not Josafina….. "Glade Windell," I breath a sigh of relief. My relief doesn't last long before the pain in my stomach settles in as I turn to face the girl's tribute. But as the girl is walking to her stage, someone else runs up to take her place. Her sister? Maybe. All I can see is a blur as the new girl runs up to stage to volunteer. That could have been Josafina, and what could I have done? Nothing. And this new girl, what chance does she have? What chance does anyone have here? I hear a lot of whispers as she stands up on stage. Something about a "wild girl." I don't know what that's about, but I think it's one of those lumber rumors. Instead, I prepare myself for the boy's reaping.

Moonlight sticks her hand into the ball and digs around for a name. Then very carefully she pulls out the slip. What are the chances? What are the odds that today, I would have to leave my home, my girlfriend, my mother….. "Ratherly Donnikan." Me, It's me. Josafina gives my hand a tight squeeze as I walk up onto the stage. I can feel my legs moving but it's not like I have any control over them. My mother, what will she do when she finds out the news? To find out that I have been taken away from her, without even so much as a goodbye,… Could she even live without me? Who would help her? Who would see that she is safe, to see that she is healthy, and make her breakfast, to visit with her when she is lonely? What could I do now? Suddenly, underneath all the grief and confusion I am feeling, I get a spark of hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe, If I can win, that I could get the medicine she needs. But what are the chances that I can win? I'm going to win, I know it. Because I've got to.


	12. Chapter 12: Just a little note

I'm still working on the updates; I should have another chapter of reapings out by Friday night. IN the meantime, I've been noticing the reviews have been dropping lately; I'm hoping that it's just from the business of the school season and that there are still people interested in the story! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make you want to keep reading, especially for the people's whose tributes belong to the earlier chapters that haven't been heard of since then. I can begin to work on the train rides while I do the reapings and post 1-6 train rides while I'm also getting the rest of the reapings up if that would keep you interested. Anything I can do, just lemme know in a review of this chapter or a PM. Thanks again for reading!


	13. District 8 Reapings: Part One

**Hey everyone, got this in before midnight, so it's on Friday like I promised ;) thanks so much for sticking with the story. I know reapings are a pain to get through, but I want to make sure each tribute has had their chance to tell their story. Another little note I'd like to mention is that I am giving up my beta reader so that I can keep the story going faster. It saves me a few days in-between chapter, and I think that it's worth it despite the little grammar and wording issues I may have. Thank you to my beta reader, you did a great job, and I really appreciate it.**

**Ok so this chapter features Robyn Kramer created by fifidear, and Feat "Tork" Torkyle created by AnthonyisMYsquirrl. I'm am so sorry I don't have Tork's POV up, but I had family commitment this evening, so by the time I got to Tork's POV all I could write was bad, lol. I figure waiting an extra day for it and having it be better written would be better than putting out a bad POV on time. It will be a separate chapter out tomorrow so be on the lookout!**

**SQ: So the answers for the last SQ's were as followed.**

**Skye's foster mother reminds me of Mrs. Weasly, because she is so cheery to Skye and very open and inviting, just like Mrs. Weasly is to Harry, and she has the same sharpness to her family, in a very loving way.**

**Ok so no one answered this one, so I'm not even going to bother posting it.**

**These next Sponsor question is this:This SQ is worth one point:**

**In district 12, hunters would sell things at the black-market called the hob. What would be "the hob" for district 8? Why do you think that the district 8's "hob" had more security than the hob at district 12?**

**Ok without further to do, District 8 (part one)!**

**District 8 Reapings**

Robyn Kramer:

When I flicker my eyes open, I can't see anything. The light is so bright…I can't quite see…. For a moment, I feel like I'm back. Back in that room again, and I immediately feel my heart begin to race. Then as my eyes adjust, I realize I'm not there. I'm in my room. I immediately let out a sigh of relief. I'm not back there again. Back in the hospital. It was ages ago, but I still remember it so vividly. Tree climbing. That's how it happened. I always loved to climb trees with Tessa. But when your little, you forget that you can't do all of the same things the big kids can do. Tessa had reached the top branch of the tree, and even though I was just a few branches below her, I wanted to reach the top. I wanted to be like my big sister, Tessa. But as I try to climb up, my hand slips off the branch, and I'm falling to the ground. The next thing I know, I am in this room that is painted all white. No color. And I am surrounded by these people in white masks and gloves. I notice the only color I can see in the room is the red on the stranger's gloves. But where did it come from? That's when I notice the pain in my head. It's a very sharp, constant, pain on the top of my head. "Hold her down," one of the strangers commands. I see him lift up this long needle filled with a deep red liquid and move it closer to my head. "This will only hurt for a second," he says as he injects it into my temple. That's when the pain worsens. It feels as though my head is on fire. My body starts to twist and convulse as the pain worsens. I remember hearing screaming, screaming, screaming that came from my own mouth.

The pain lasted for what seemed like hours, when in reality, I guess it was only a few minuets before I passed out. But the pain never ended there. The hospital was only the beginning of the pain that would consume the rest of my life. After I fell out of the tree, one of the villagers was passing by the forest and heard the screaming. We weren't supposed to be out in the woods, it wasn't allowed. But hearing my screams brought the villager to us, and she helped Tessa carry me to my parents' house, who quickly rushed us to the peacekeepers. We were in luck. One of the shipments of cloth was heading out to the capital via jet for their fall season clothes, and my father was able to bribe the peacekeepers to let me on the plane. He, my mother and I were the only three allowed on, and Tessa was left at home.

I was fading quickly; but I must have been conscious at times throughout the flight, because I remember hearing my mother pleading me to stay with her, and my father trying to comfort me. By the time we arrived in the Capitol, I had lost enormous amount of blood. My mother and father carried me off the jet and ran me to the nearest hospital. They weren't going to help, not us. I wasn't important; my life meant nothing to them. But my father's money did. He had to offer the only price they would take; his life salary. I was rushed into the emergency room where the doctors fixed me up right away; they saved my life. But even then, it wasn't quick enough to save what damage the impact of the fall had done to me. Short term memory loss.

I slowly get up out of bed and glance outside. It looked to be around ten o' clock. Ten o' clock, I'd be late for school! I hurry out the door and into my kitchen to see if my mother is up. Maybe she can explain why she never woke me up for school. When I walk into the kitchen, I find my mother and father sitting at the table, eating breakfast. What is my father doing here? I almost never get to see my dad. After selling his salary to the Capitol hospital, he has to work 3 jobs to keep our family fed. So naturally, to find him here, at the table, at ten in the morning, is an unusual thing.

"Dad? Mom? What's going on? Aren't I supposed to be at school?" I ask. "No, sweetheart, remember? Today is the reaping, so you don't have to go to school." My mother says sweetly. The reaping, already? I guess my father notices the bewildered look on my face, so he speaks up. "That's right, time has really flown by, hasn't it? Why don't you sit down, we can eat breakfast as a family this morning," I slowly make my way to the table and take a seat. Ever since the accident, my family is always cautious, always trying to make my memory loss seem,..inexistent. They try their best to make me feel normal, and I appreciate the consideration, even though it doesn't work.

"Where's Tessa?" I ask as my mom passes me a slice of bread. Tessa is usually up before me, and since today is the reaping, I know she won't want to miss breakfast. "Oh, I don't know, dear. I think she wanted to sleep in." my mother says,"Why don't you help yourself to some food? We've got an extra special breakfast this morning."I help myself to a square of cheese and some apple slices, making sure to set aside some of the food for Tessa. We don't usually get this much variety for breakfast and I know she loves it.

This morning it isn't just the food that makes me happy; it's being with my family. I talk with my father as I eat. It' small talk mostly, about school and hobbies or how things are going at his work. I know he must have heard them a million times before, but honestly, I don't remember telling him anything. Mother sits with us and works on her latest stitching. It's a dress for Tessa. It's supposed to be a birthday present, since Tessa is going to turn 18 this year. When a girl turns 18, it is customary, in district 8, for her parents to present her with a white gown she can wear to her wedding. Living in district 8, we always have enough cloth to make our own clothes. My mother works in the factories that make the actual rolls of fabric, and has been saving up cloth for the dress. My mother may be good at spinning the fabric, but her talent is designing. My sister's dress looks so beautiful. It's a long, strapless dress. My mother has been able to get a large sum of the same color fabric, so most of it is the same beautiful ivory white color.

Unlike most of the other parents, my mother has worked her way up to the silk factory, and so we are so fortunate that she has been able to slip away enough fabric for the dress. It's taken her years to save up the fabric, she has to be so very careful; but now my sister is going to have the best wedding dress ever. On the top, the dress seems to have a plain stitched pattern. But as you reach the bottom, my mother has weaved in a whole bunch of complex patterns. It isn't quite finished yet, but it will be soon. My mother just needs a little more fabric to finish the bottom tread. Whatever guy marries my sister will be the luckiest guy in the world.

After I am done eating, my mother walks me up to my room, where she presents me with my very first reaping dress. It's a short faded blue dress, with a ruffled skirt and ruffled sleeves. The top is designed with flowers and ivory leaves, and in the right corner is a little robin. "I know it's older fabric," my mother says as she hands me the dress. "But the designs for the robin wouldn't have worked on silk, so I had to trade some silk snatches for some cotton fabric from one of the neighbors."

I smile at the reference. I will never forget what my mother told me on one of the days before my accident. "We have secrets that even the peace keepers don't know about," my mother had whispered. "You see, in every factory for the different types of fabric. Everyone swipes what they can manage to get away with, and comes to the main square where there is a shop called weavers corner. To the peacekeepers, it looks like an ordinary shop. But if you go in and tell them the password, they'll take you into the back room. There is a trap door to the underground, and that takes you through a tunnel. And when you come out on the other side, you are in the market. Here is where everyone trades their fabric. There are all types, new and old. Silk is one of the more rare fabrics because most of the people can't manage to swipe silk. It's too heavily guarded by the peacekeepers for most people to manage. But I can," my mother had said with a sly smile.

"No, I love it," I tell my mother. And I do, I really do. She leaves so I can slip it on. After I am dressed, I tie my necklace with the robin charm around my neck. Once I am done, I take a good look in the mirror. From out of the corner I can see the crack in the top. I smile as I touch it. It reminds me of Irene. Irene and I use to be best friends; we did everything together, up until the accident. When word got out of my, "condition", people started to pick on me. It was about my memory loss. The good thing about my memory loss is that it could have been so much more severe. The Capital medicine had fixed some of it, but most of the damage was already done. Some things I can remember so easily, like my family, or our customs, or school work, and even my accident story, but other things, like the day or time, things I've done, strangers I've met, newer names and face, slip my mind entirely. It may not be much, but anything that makes you different gives them a reason to pick on you. And when you start getting picked on, not even your closet friends stick with you. Irene stuck it out with me for a while before she left me. I think the saddest part is that I can't even remember her goodbye.

After I am all done, I run downstairs. Tessa must have already eaten, because she is waiting for me in the kitchen. "Hey Robyn," she greets as I run down to give her a huge hug. "You look beautiful," she says with a smile. "So do you," I reply. And she does. When my mother and father come down, we head to the square. There Tessa walks with me to my section. "Good luck," she says giving me a kiss on the cheek. Then she walks off to her section. The reapings begin right away. Our mayor introduces our district representative. Her name is Frilly Zactors. I don't remember her, but from the sounds of the people, I think she is our usual representative. For representing a tailoring district, she doesn't have much clothing on. She is wearing a low cut bedazzled pink tank top that slides up to her stomach, and she is wearing a short jean mini skirt with long hot pink high heels. Her hair has been dyed white, and is long and streaked with different rainbow colors. Her face has been caked with a ton of makeup. I guess she is trying to look young, but she sure looks old to me, and that's saying something for Capitol people.

She glides up on stage to introduce herself. Then she draws out the mentors. " Demetry Razor and Hillary Stuper!" She calls out loudly. I don't remember watching either of their games. But as they walk up on stage, I notice Demetry shoves Frilly away when she goes to pose with him for the cameras, muttering something under his breath. Hillary doesn't look any more thrilled to be there, but she at least tolerates Frilly.

After she is done posing with our mentors, Frilly goes up to pull out the girls name.

"Robyn Kramer!"

As she announces my name, I can feel the shock of it actually begin. It never occurred to me, not even once, that my name might be pulled. I am force to walk up on stage, but I don't really know what I'm doing. Frilly pulls me up next to her when I am up, and pulls m tightly in next to her. "Smile kid, I don't want you silly frowning face to mess up my picture," she whispers in my ear. I force a small upturn of my lips, but I can feel the tears begin to slide down my face. I am going back to the Capitol for the first time in 5 years. And I have a feeling that this visit will be much more painful than the first.


	14. District 8 Reapings: Part 2

Hey everyone! Sorry, It's been a busy weekend and I'm having a tough time keeping up with posting, right now I'm managing about ½ a reaping a week, but I hope to increase it, if school cooroperates! This is the last half of district 8 reapings, featuring Feat "Tork" Torkyle by AnthonyisMYsquirrl. I hope you enjoy it! Ok, so people have been saying that I should post the first half of the train rides, and I think their right, because it's a lot of tributes to remember, even for me, and I'm the one who wrote their POVs! So I will be rereading 1-6's reapings and figuring out ho I'm going to split them, and I will be posting their train rides before starting D9's reapings. If you don't want me to do this, please let me know in a PM or your review and if I get more no's than there were yeses I'll just do D9's reapings. Thanks for sticking with this fanfic!

**Feat "Tork" Torkyle:**

I know it's morning as soon as the light of the sun starts to creep through my window. That's because I didn't get much sleep last night. Insomnia. It runs in the family. I don't really know why of all nights, last night was the one night I couldn't fall asleep. If I had gotten to sleep I might have actually been able to sleep in this morning. That's because I don't have school today. It was canceled on account of the reaping. Normally, I wouldn't have cared either way. Am I nervous? Yea, of course I am. Would I rather be in school? You bet. But it's my mother that I worry about. She's been freaking out all month because of the reapings. She's always worrying about it at this time of year. I only hope she can calm down a bit when the baby comes. I might have gotten used to her worrying, but I think that her obsession might scare my little brother or sister. I keep telling her everything will be fine, my chances of going are slim. Our family is pretty well off, so I don't need to take tesserae. But then again, I'm not the luckiest guy in the world. In fact, I'm the opposite. I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time, saying the wrong things, wearing the wrong things, so who knows?

I force myself out of bed this morning and make my way to the kitchen. There's no point in staying in bed if I'm not going to sleep. My parents are still asleep, so I make my way through the house to the back door. I carefully unlatch the door and step out into the cold morning air. Then I walk a few houses down to this old storage shed. I reach into my pocket, but of course, I left my key on my dresser at home. By "Key" I mean this thin wavy piece of wire. The shed is a community storage unit, or CSU for odds and ends, old clothes, fabrics, cleaning stuff, you name it. No one really uses this one anymore, so I've taken to coming here, storing some old notebooks and things to work on in the morning. Sighing, I sink down against the door. I don't have anything to do this morning, so I sit and reflect. Reflecting has been my friend for the past few years, especially on the nights I can't seem to fall asleep. It's easy to get lost in your thoughts; it's almost like dreaming while you're awake. When I don't really have much to think about, I find myself rattling off random facts in my head. It passes the time.

I am abruptly broken from my train of thoughts by a scream. "Tork! Tork! Can you hear me? Where are you?" my mother. I pick myself off and head back to my house. My mother rushes up to me when I come into view. "Oh Tork, you scared me! I went to wake you up and you weren't in bed, I was afraid you were hurt, or lost, or.." she rattles. "No, I'm fine really." I assure her. "Oh good, well your father is making breakfast, why don't you come on in and eat with us?" she asks. I nod and follow her inside. She stops suddenly at the door and clutches her stomach. "Is everything ok mom?" I ask. "Ya, …I'm fine," she says, taking a deep breath and continuing to walk. "Good morning Tork," my dad says when I come in. I sit down at the table and help myself to the toast, and my father goes over to help my mother to the table.

My mother groans when she sits down. "Is everything alright?" my father asks the worry clear on his face. "ye,..yeah…I'm fine," my mother says. "It's just the baby," she says. "I'll go get the tonic," my father says quickly, rushing up from the table. My mother's been having a really rough time the past couple of weeks, and it's really taking a toll on my father. The baby's due in less than a month, but really it could come anytime. My parents have already been talking and making arrangements for a midwife. But until the baby comes we've got to hold out.

After I'm done eating, I excuse myself back to my room to get dressed for the reapings. They don't start for a few more hours, but I want to be all ready anyways. I through on a nice blue shirt and some black pants, and tie my stone necklace around my neck. That's when I hear my mother screaming. I don't wait a minuet; I rush out into our living room immediately. "Joe! Joe! The baby's coming!" my mother shouts. She's on the couch now. My father comes rushing in. "Oh, Tork! Tork, you know what to do," my father tells me. I nod and make a break for the door. Of all mornings this could be happening! I run as fast as I can down the square and to midwife Joeann's door. I'm out of breath when I knock on the door. "The baby's here," I pant when she opens the door. She rushes back inside and grabs her bag and I lead her back to the house. My father has moved my mother into their back bedroom now."It's alright, just breath," hear my father say as I lead the midwife into their room. My mother looks relived that she's there. Joeann immediately gives me that look and stops me from coming into the room. "Hey Tork, why don't you head over to Neos's house and go to the reapings with them, I don't think were going to make it," my father tells me, his voice straining. "Ok," I say as Joeann slams the door in my face.

I make my way slowly out the door and walk slowly to Neos's house. Well, at least my mother can't be too worried about me today if she's having the baby. I almost pass up Neos's house before I realize where I'm going. I haven't been over to his house much, we mostly hang out at school, but I'm sure they'll welcome me in this morning. I knock on the door and his mother awnsers it. "Oh Tork! What a surprise!" she exclaims. "My mother, she's having the baby right now and was wondering if I could stay over here," I blurt out quickly. "Of course! Why don't you come on it?" she says, opening the door wider. "Neos in his room, you can head on in, I'm sure he'll be glad to see you." I nod and make my way quickly to Neos's room. His little siblings are already up and eating at the table. There are 5 of them; honestly I don't see his mother manages to take care of so many kids. I have to admit, their cute little things.

I find Neos lying on his bed, looking at an old photograph. I cough once I get in the room, letting him know I'm there. He quickly shoves the photo back under his pillow and gets up out of bed. "Oh hey Tork," he says. "My mother's having the baby," I say. He nods. "Oh, well cool. Congratulations," he says. I nod. "So, I still need to eat breakfast if you want to join me," he says. I nod and we head into the kitchen. I sit and let him eat and then follow him back into his room so he can get dressed. There's really an awkward silence after I come back into the room. "So, what's the photograph you were looking at?"I ask, hoping to spark a conversation. "Oh nothing," he says quietly. I rush over to his pillow and pick it up, and he quickly comes over to stop me. But I get there first and manage to pick up the photo. I take a look at the page and become confused. "Jalley Titrish?" I say when I see the photo. He goes red and nods. Jalley Titrish is a girl that goes to our school. She's got long dark brown hair and really big blue eyes, her parents own the town sweet shop. "Where'd you get this?" I ask holding up the photo. "It fell out of her bag," he admits nervously. "When?" I ask. "…About a month ago." There's an awkward silence between us. "Well, maybe you should talk to her sometime," I say quietly. "Yea, maybe…" he says. And that's the end of the subject.

It's only around 9:30, so we play some card games, surf the tv, and babysit his little siblings. By 12:45 we're out the door and on our way to town square. I don't see my parents, but I know they won't be coming. Neos and I head over to the 16's section. There I can see Jalley, and I glance over at Neos. He notices her, but I don't think he'll act on it. He's too shy, too much like me. The reapings start at exactly twelve, and the mayor goes off on this long boring story about the history of the reapings. I just can't wait to get this over with. I just want to get home to my family, to my father, to my mother, and to my new sibling.

I hate our district representative, she really freaks me out with her funky hair and makeup and clothes. She announces our district mentors, but I don't know them. The hunger games make me queasy, so I just shut my eyes and try to tune them out. They call up our girl representative, I don't recognize her, but she looks to be only twelve. I can see her start to cry while she stands up on stage, and I fell really sorry for her. Then Frilly pulls out the boy's name. I should have known what name she was going to pull before she even read it. The signs were all there. I had left my key at home, my mother had gone into labor, I was freezing cold and didn't even think to grab a jacket; like I've said before, I'm not the world's most luckiest guy. And today was no exception because the name that she had pulled out of the hat was Feat Torkyle.


	15. District 9: Part One

**Ok so here are district 9's reapings. ****Anyways, thanks for being patient with my updates. I was planning on getting this chapter out by last Saturday, but there were family complications, this week was a really rough time for everyone in my family, so I haven't had time to write until now.**

**This chapter features Star Tearmorre created by booksarecool and ****Blaze McCormac** **created by ILoveAnimals12. Booksarecool, I wrote your tribute's POV a little different than I think you were thinking of, I hope you don't mind! I'll post part two with Blaze's POV later this week, hopefully Friday or Saturday, Sunday at the latest.**

**Sponsor Question: No one awnsered the other ones, so I'm going to save time and not bother posting the awnsers. Today these SQ are worth one point a piece, please PM me your answer!**

_**! HUNGER GAMES TRIVIA ! **_**What "advice" does Haymitch first give Katiness and Peeta? Yes, there is only ONE right answer! Haha can YOU do it without looking?**

_**Which 74**__**th**__** Hunger Games tribute does Star remind you of? There's really just one answer I'm thinking of, but this is really an opinion!**_

_**Which famous Hunger Games Character (not necessarily a tribute) does Jerry remind you of? Yes there is really only one right answer to this one! Feel free to explain your answer and I'll give you and extra point ;)**_

**District 9 Reapings:**

_**Star Tearmorre:**_

_Woosh. _The arrow shot through the air and landed with a thunk in the second inner ring of the board. Without even blinking, I send another arrow flying through the air. This one lands just above the bulls-eye. _Last chance, last shot,_ I think to myself. I take a deep breath, and keeping my arm as steady as possible, I pull back the arrow as far as it will go. Then I release it. _Thunk_. The arrow lands right in the dead center of my target. Bulls-eye.

"Nicely done, Star," Jerry says, nodding approvingly. I lower my bow and accept his praise. "Thanks," I say with a smile. "You were good, but I still think you need to work on moving targets, I dunno, it just needs work. You're slacking a bit today," Jerry insists. If he wants a show; I'll give him a show. As he's walking towards the tree to retrieve my arrow, I quickly string my bow and shoot it perfectly in-between his thumb and pointer finger. He freezes and turns to me. I know that look in his eyes. Sure enough, I'm right. The next thing I know he is whirling around to me, knife in hand. I draw my spear, the only short ranged weapon I have at the time, and balance out his motions. I already know what he's going to do, and I have the scars to prove it. I easily block his upper thrust and side sweep. He's holding back today, I wonder why. That's when he jumps up and twists around, using his leg to sweep my feet out from under me. Then in one smooth motion he's on top of me, knife pointed at my throat. I should have known. Good ol' Uncle Jerry always has tricks up his sleeve.

"Nice try, sweetheart," Jerry whispers with a smile. Then he gets up to his feet and brushes off his pants, offering me a hand. "Well, I think that's all were going to get in today," my Uncle replies, looking off at the sun."It's getting late, and your parents will be up soon." I nod and help him pick up the equipment. When were done we walk back into town together.

We have to hurry, by the looks of the sun its almost 9 o clock. And I have to be in bed by 9 unless I want a repeat of it again. Normally my Uncle would have to have me in bed two hours ago, but today is the reaping day, so my parents never get up before nine. Still, were cutting it close, as always. We are rounding the corner to Victor's Village with only minuets to spare. "You know the routine, right?" he asks, taking the bag of weapons and supplies from my back. He turns around and I slip down the side of my house, and he tosses me my pajamas. I quickly change out of my "trainee clothing" so to speak, and slip my pajamas back on. When I come back out from the side of the house, my uncle already has the cloth and water ready. He pours the water out on the cloth and dabs it on my arms and face, cleaning off any traces of dirt or blood. "Remember, I was never here. And if your dad asks?" he whispers quickly."I got the cuts when I was climbing the tree outside our house," I reply procedurally. He smiles. "That's my girl. Now get on inside. Good luck if you're picked, your gonna need it, sweetheart," he whispers sarcastically. I smile. "Bye,"

I rush around to the back door of our house as my Uncle pulls up his hood and heads back to his house down the street. I slip in the back door and tiptoe silently up to my room. I smile walking up; we made it just in time. When I get up to my room, I swing open the door, finding that my statement was not true. "Hello Star. You're up early, is there something you wanted to tell me?" my father asks. He is sitting on my bed, apparently waiting for me to answer. I turn around to face him. "No, not really," I rely softly. He gets up slowly and walks over to me. "Star, what were you doing up? Don't give me any lies," he says. I still don't answer. What was I suppose to say? He sighs. "Give me your arm," he says. I don't move. "Star, give me your arm," He reaches out and picks up my arm, rolling back the sleeve. Without the sleeve, he can plainly see and fresh cuts and scratches from today's practice."I'm going to kill him," my father whispers under his breath. He storms out of my room and stops down the steps. I quickly follow him. "Dad! Dad wait, please, I can explain!" I yell. Of course he's not going to listen.

"Taint! Taint dear, is everything ok?" My mother asks, walking out to the top of the stairs, still in her robe. "I'm going to kill him!" my father says angrily, storming for the door. "Taint, please Taint, just, calm down ok?" my mother pleads, rushing down to follow us. My little sister Sparkle is toddling out of her room, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Mommy, what's going on?" she asked. "Oh nothing sweetie, just go back to sleep," my mother tells her. "Taint! Don't leave yet, j..just calm down!" she protests. "Star!" I look back to my mother and then to my father, and follow my father out the door. "Dad, just wait for a minuet," I try, but of course he won't stop. He storms right up the Victor's lane down to my Uncle's house and bangs on the door. "Jerry! Open this door right now! Jerry!" he shouts. But my uncle doesn't open up. "Jerry! I'll give you to the count of three to open this door or I'll bust it down," my father shouts. My mother's caught up with us now and comes up behind me to stand on the porch. "One, ..two,.. Don't make me say three," my father threatens. Sure enough, my uncle opens the door. "Quiet down, you're going to wake up the whole district," my uncle says. "Quiet down? Quiet down? Jerry you are in so much trouble!" my father yells stepping into my uncle's house.

"Calm down man, I didn't do anything wrong." Jerry begins. "Didn't do anything wrong?" my father interrupts," Jerry, I've told you before, I DO NOT tolerate you training my daughter behind my back, you understand? I will not have you taking her into those woods and teaching her how to use those death traps to kill people, my daughter is not a killer," but Jerry stops my dad and places his hand on my father's shoulder. "Look, she's 16, she's not a kid anymore. The games are already here, and her name is already there, whether you like it or not. She could be going to the games today and what do you want her to do? If she doesn't have any training you might as well offer her up on a silver platter." He says. "This is my daughter you're talking about! Don't use her as an excuse Jerry," my father shouts. Jerry tries to interrupt, but my father won't let him."This is my little girl, she is not a second chance for you, Jerry, she's not her!"

I stand off to the side behind my father. Jerry is just staring at him now. They've always disagreed, on pretty much everything, but the Hunger Games is the touchy spot. My father grew up the oldest of 4. When he was 19, the second oldest, my Uncle John, was reaped into the 60th Hunger Games. He came out on top and was victorious. Coming back from the games, John didn't feel that his brother was safe anymore, so he trained and worked my Uncle Jerry really hard, just in case. Sure enough, the next year, my Uncle Jerry was picked and he too came out victorious. But the games didn't have the same effect on my Uncle Jerry. Their sister, Lilac, was turning 12 just before the next reaping. She was sweet and kind and Jerry refused to train her. He didn't want to turn her into a killer; he wanted her to be safe. But she wasn't, and in the 62nd hunger games she was killed. That's the "her" my father was referring to. Lilac.

My Uncle blames himself for her death. I've heard them talking, and apparently my uncle was never quite the same after Lilac died. He moved out of the family house and into his own house in Victor Village. He use to drink all the time, I do remember that. My mother and father would play with me outside, and I remember my Uncle watching us from afar. His eyes weren't harsh, they were full of sadness and grief. I remember how my mother and father would always try to keep me away from him. They were trying to protect me, and I could only see my Uncle from afar.

Once I turned twelve, my Uncle Jerry stopped drinking. He stopped the moment he saw me walking into my first reaping. I was standing in the front, watching one of my classmates stand on the stage. Lily. That was her name. She was only twelve, like me, when she was picked to go to the Hunger Games. My parents had never let me see the Hunger Games, they always kept me entertained in something else, despite the law. But my Uncle pulled me aside after the reaping. "The Hunger Games, they aren't like those board games you play, sweetheart. People die in the games, people there are trained killers. And anyone can go and no ones safe. Your parents want to keep the games from you, but they don't understand that ignorance doesn't make you safer. "I was young, I didn't believe him. "Why do you think your parents keep you out of the room when they watch the games? If you don't believe me watch them for yourself. It's dangerous, but I can help you. If you let me train you, then you'll have a shot. You'll be able to defend yourself. If you want my help, meet me in the forest at dawn, the day after the games begin." He had told me. And so I went home, and I waited. And I watched the first day of the games. And I watched Lily die. So that night, when he saw me coming into the forest to meet him, we made a pact. We made a pact that he would help train me for the Hunger Games.

This isn't the first time my father's caught me. The first time was when I was 13. We were careless one day, and my father had trouble sleeping, so he was up earlier than usual. When he caught me, we had to hold off training for almost two months. My father would walk me to and from school for two weeks, and had kept my bedroom under supervision for a week and a half. After he was convinced he had put an end to the training, he let up. My one good argument was that I spent so much time in the forest anyways, that the occasional cuts and bruises were expected. But you could only get so many cuts and bruises climbing trees with your friends. My father must have gotten suspicious lately.

I stand against the wall unsure what to do. There wasn't really anything I could do. I loved my dad **and **my uncle and they both loved me. That's why they argued; my father was only trying to protect me, but he was blinded from the truth, whereas my uncle fed it to me cold and as harsh as reality always is.

I can see my uncle start to tear up a bit from my dad's last line, but he has more to say. "Don't bring Lilac into this," he whispers. "This isn't about her," "This is all about her, Jerry, and you know it! You got to let it go, she's gone alright? She is dead, she's been dead for 13 years!" "Stop it, this isn't," my uncle says, only to be interrupted again. "No you stop; you got to let her go. You have to let this go," "You don't get it do you?" Jerry replied. "This isn't about Lilac, this is about Star. Hiding the games from her isn't going to do anyone any good, can't you understand?" Jerry replied. My father stares him down. "I'm done." My father replied grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the door. I look back sadly at my uncle, who is just watching us leave. My mother follows quickly behind us. We pass by my Uncle john's house on the way back, he's woken up by the noise and he is standing on his porch, his little daughter and son clutching to his legs and his wife standing behind them. "Is Jerry acting up again, Taint?" he shouts out to my father. "Maybe I should go talk to him," "forget about it John, you can't fix him, not anymore," my father replies, continuing to walk back to our house.

My little sister is waiting for us on the porch, still in her nightgown dragging her teddy bear behind her. "Mommy, is sissy ok? Why was daddy yelling?" she asks my mom when we approach them. "Oh everything's ok dear, why don't you come with me and we'll get some breakfast." She says scooping up my sister and carrying her inside. I start heading for the door, but my father shuts it before I can get through. Now it's just me and him standing on the porch. "I don't understand," he says quietly, "why when I tell you no you still disobey me?" "This is different, dad," I reply softly. "No it's not. I told you no more training with Jerry and what do you do? Sneak behind me back and lie to me?" he replies. "You know dad, I agree with you on just about everything. And I obey you. But when it comes to this, I agree with Jerry," "Star,…" "No dad, you may not want to admit it, but he's right. Without training I'm as good as dead." I reply opening our front door and walking inside before he can stop me.

Inside, I grab my pate of food and rush upstairs to eat in my bedroom. Mornings like these are rough. Normally we would all be downstairs eating as a family. But I don't think that will work out today. I quietly eat my breakfast, and once I'm done eating, I hope into the shower. I srub my head with the soaps and perfumes we have. That's the one thing I love about me is my hair. It's long and blonde, like my mother's, only I added red highlights. They look nice, and really bring out my blue eyes. Once I am showered off, I step out and blow-dry my hair.

I'm still in my towel when my mother comes in. "This morning was,…rough. But I want you to know that we still love you, and we always will." She tells me. Then she pulls the dress out from behind her back. It's a long, slimming shiny green dress. "It used to belong to me, when I was your age. I want you to have it," she says laying it in my hands. "Thanks," I reply. My mom nods and walks out of my room. I slip on the dress. It looks great on me, just like it did on my mother in her pictures. I walk back into my bathroom and put on some eyeliner and mascara, finishing it up with some deep red lipstick. Once I'm ready, I head downstairs. My family is waiting for me. I join them in the living room, avoiding my father's eyes. My sister stares at me with wide eyes. "Starry, you look **bootiful**," my sister says. I smile as she tries to pronounce the "u" sound. It's always given her trouble.

As we head to the square, my mother tries to lighten things up. I keep my chin high as I walk into the square. I can't let my father know that he's gotten to me. But I'm sure he can see it in my eyes, just as I can see it in his. I head to my section, seeing Cara waiting for me. She is dressed in a long white dress, he long black hair braided into complex patterns that fall down her back. "Everything ok with the Fam?" she asks. "Ugh, don't even ask. It's been a tough morning," I reply.

The reaping starts up soon enough, though it feels like forever. The mayor's story seems to drag on and on before he finally introduces our mentor, Ruddy King. Ruddy comes up on stage, dressed in the latest Capitol fashions. Ruddy has been desperately trying to get bumped up to a better district for a very long time. She tries to keep up with the latest fashions, which this year happens to include a painfully bright neon pink dress covered in sparkles and gems. The dress fits her tightly, and the designs seem to flow right into the gold and silver tattoos on her skin. Her eyes have been heavily outlined in black, and her eye lashes each have a little diamond implanted on them so her eyes seem to flash when she blinks. Her lips have been glittered with a neon green, and her hair has been straightened so it flows down her shoulders, kept from extending its full length only from the crown that sits on her head. It's quite an arrangement, really.

She hops up on stage, the determination clear on her face before she breaks out into her huge smile. "Hello District Nine!" she begins. Her introductions are long, she is constantly talking up the Capital and the game makers, and it's always smile, smile ,smile! Sometimes I wonder what she'd be like if you took her away from the cameras. I can't imagine she'd be like this all the time! Soon enough, she gets through all of her sucking up and rushes to pull out our mentors.

This year, my Uncle Jerry and some women named Veronica are picked. I see the pain in my Uncle's eyes as he walks up to the stage. He has to go again this year, and now he doesn't even have my Uncle John to help him through it. Ruddy walks over to the girls reaping ball. Here's where it really all comes into place. I'm feeling so conflicted as she digs her hand through the globe. I don't know why I'm feeling like this. I think it's everything that happened with my father and my uncle, and just the timing of it all. Of all days to have the argument break out, it had to be the day of the reaping. As Ruddy clear her throat, I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. My head is starting to spin. "Let's make a deal," I can almost hear my uncle saying. "The Hunger Games, they aren't like those board games you play, sweetheart," then I can hear my fathers words. "No, Jerry, she's my daughter, she's not a second chance!" The words all flood together; the memories mix together and flood through my head. "You don't understand, people there are trained killers, people die in these games. No one is safe, not even you…" then she calls out the name. My name.

I swallow the lump in my throat as I clench my fists and walk up to the stage to take my place. I can see the look of pain on my uncle's face. I walk up to stage, and Ruddy doesn't even ask for volunteers. They're non-existent here. After they call up the boy tribute, Ruddy turns us to face the crowd. That's when I finally catch my father's eyes. His worst nightmare is finally happening, I am being sent to the games. I can see the regret in his eyes, as he meets my stare. Even without words, I know exactly what he means. Then I see his eyes flicker to my Uncle Jerry. And I know that though my father and my uncle don't get along, their making their own silent pact just as I did 4 years ago. And I know, that my Uncle will do everything to bring my father's little girl home.


	16. District 9: Part Two

**Sorry this took so long to put out, school is insane, as I imagine most of you are busy too. I joined a Writer's Guild at my school, so I'm hoping it will improve my writing and it's a lot of fun! Ok here is Blaze's, I made it short for two reasons: One, the main reason, his creator let me use him for the story but doesn't care about him at all and never checks on the story, and so because of this, I'm making his POV sort of short so we can keep movin quicker, the rest will be regular length!**

**SPONSOR OPP: If you did it without looking and got it wrong, I still gave you ½ a point ;P If you got it right, you got the full point!**

Star reminds me of Foxface, cause she's sneaky and just her overall attitude is what I imagined Foxface to be like! (This was an opinion, you got a point for doing it!)

Jerry reminds me of Haymitch

The advice Haymitch gave Katiness was: "Stay alive"

**Ok this is part 2, so no sponsor opp., but look for more next chapter! Now here's Blaze's POV!**

My eyes flicker open the second the sun hits my eyelids. I've trained myself to get up before the sun is up for too long. If I don't, the light and heat start to affect my dreams. They remind me of the fire. It makes me feel the horror of it all over again, like I can't escape. I see my house, my family, my life, burning again. It affects my dreams and pulls back those memories I've tried so hard to forget. Then I wake up panting. But if I can force myself up before the sun shines on my face for too long, I can block out the memories to some extent. When my eyes flicker open, I can feel my hand fly immediately up to my temple. I try to slow down my breathing and I force myself out of bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see myself in the mirror. Kids at my school use to say I was the most handsome guy around. I never really paid any attention to my looks. The girls in our village would stop and stare at the sight of me. Now they can't look my way, not with ought their eyes tearing up. From my view of the mirror, you can only see the side of me. Tall, tan, muscular 17 year old. But when I turn to face the mirror, you can see the long, deep scarlet scare the runs from my left temple down to my chin. My arms still have traces of the burn marks on them. This is me now.

About three years ago, one of the electrical pole generators by our house fell down and crashed through the roof. It happened in the middle of the night, when we were sleeping. I was woken up from the sound. By the time I was woken up, the roof was beginning to collapse from the flames. I could hear my little sister crying in the room next to me, and immediately ran to help her, but one of the beams on the roof collapse and fell down, tearing a long scare in my face. I tried my best to get to her. I could hear my parents in their room, where the wire had fallen, and the fire had started. They were in one of the back rooms that have no windows and only one door. Their door was blocked. They were trapped inside. I tried frantically to get to my little sister, but with all of the rubble, I couldn't break into the room. My older sister managed to get out of her room and came down to help me. It was no use, we couldn't get her out. I came to my senses before my sister. There was nothing we could do. My sister was crazy from the fumes and terror, and she wouldn't leave the door. I had to drag her out myself so that we could get outside. The house exploded only minuets after we managed to get out of it. The gas line, it had hit the gas line.

I trace the scar down my face with my finger. It's an ever permanent reminder of fire. As If I didn't have enough of that. I turn away from the mirror and head out into the kitchen to get something to eat. Sam is up already fixing himself some breakfast. Sam is my sister's husband. They were married soon after the fire. They had been engaged before the fire, and he was the one we went to when our house exploded. I remember my sister leading us to his house and how she collapsed in his arms the moment we stepped inside. He was the only person we could go to; the only thing we had left that was even close to family. My sister had lost her mind, that nght she went crazy. She locked herself in her bedroom for three days until we could convince her to come out. She was never better after that. She wasn't totally insane, she still has some sanity left in her, but not like before. Sam helped her through her tough phases, and after their marriage, they "adopted" me legally until I would come of age.

"Hey Blaze, how are you doing?" Sam asks as he licks the jelly from his toast off of his finger.

"Good," I reply helping myself to the bread. "How's, Terra?"

"Oh she's ok, she's still sleeping," he replies. "So how are you feeling?"

I know exactly what he means. The reaping is today. "I'm fine, glad it's one of my last years." I reply. I can't imagine going to the Hunger Games and leaving Terra. She may be half-crazy, but she is still as loving and overprotective as before. And after we've lost our other sibling, and parents, how could we lose each other? 

"Yes, that's good. Good luck today, definitely," Sam replies.

At that point in our conversation, Terra comes down the stairs. She's still in her nightgown, rubbing her eyes. Her face breaks into a smile when she sees us. "Good morning," she says. She rushes down the steps and comes over to pull me into a huge hug. Then she gives Sam a quick kiss and rushes over to the counter to clean up the breakfast mess Sam and I made." I'm sorry I wasn't up to make you breakfast, I was just so tired," she said with a yawn. She pulls out a slice of bread and takes one of the plastic spoons to begin buttering her toast. Sam gets up and gives her a kiss, slipping the spoon out of her hand and replacing it with a plastic knife. That's one of the things she does, is she'll get items mixed up. Luckily we have plastic utensils so it's not as dangerous if she mistakes her fork with a knife. With them as a young couple and trying to support me, we're on the low end of middle class. But we get by better than most people.

After we're done eating, I go to my room to get changed. I put on my dress clothes, which consist of Sam's hand-me-down old red polo and black dress pants. After I'm ready, I go downstairs to wait for Terra and Sam. Then we head to the square.

The square is always a hard place for me to be, I used to come here with my parents. It's easier when I'm with my friends. When I get to the square, I spot my best friends Tom, Johnny, Angela, and Reggie.

"Sup dude," Tom says with a smile.

"Hey, good to see you," Johnny greets.

Reggie gives me a nod too.

"Hey Blaze," Angela says with a smile. Angela is sweet, and I love her to death for it. We tend to depend on each other because we both lost family members. She lost her older sister Rachel to the Hunger Games, and I lost my younger sister to the fire. I smile back and talk with my friends while we wait for the reaping to begin. Even after the reaping does begin, we don't pay much attention. Well at least, I don't. I tend to zone it out.

The fear comes back when the girls reaping starts. I feel Angela's hand slip into my right hand and I squeeze it tightly, reassuringly. When I hear a girl named Star Tearmorre announced, I her Angela sigh with relief. That's one person down. Now I prepare for the boy announcement. It could be Johnny, it could be Reggie, it could be Tom, or ..it could be me. And I was right about one of those guesses, because it is me.

I hear a cry escape from Angela and murmuring among my friends before it really hits me. Me. Angela won't let go of my hand easily, not until I start to walk. The guy friends part and let me through, throwing me apologetic glances. They could volunteer, but they won't Friendship, even best friends, can't ask that of each other. We had always agreed anyways if we were picked, we would go and not let the other volunteer. I'm not going to ask that of them. I make my way up to stage, never looking back, trying to focus on gathering up my strength to face the crowds.

I hear Ruddy gasp as she sees the scars on my face. It feels as if it's burning right now, I feel as if I'm back on fire. But I'm not. Once I'm up on stage, I look out in the crowd to look for my sister, I have to see her. I can see the pain in her eyes, and with each teardrop that falls down her check, I can feel my heart ache. I can't die, not while she is here. I meet her gaze, and I know she believes me. I'm going to try my best for her. Were two halves of a whole, she's my family. And I've got to win this for her.


	17. District Ten:Part One

**Hey everyone, I'm still writing, so I hope your still R and R, your opinions mean a lot to me! We're almost there, only 2 more chapters to go! Don't worry, I'll never quit this story until it's done! Here is the next two tributes, Aden Starr created by Demiblood22 and Fawna Meadows created by cloudyNK. I found myself wondering throughout this chapter how it would really be to live in district 10. After all, they produce live animals, they don't just work in some building! So I found myself creating a whole way of life for these people. I don't have any experience with cattle, just common knowledge, but I do havea moderate amount of experience with horses, having taken life horse lessons, gone to camps, and having horse owning friends. Hopefully I got most of the general information on them right, though I know it wouldn't be quite as exact as the REAL Aden if he had a mind of his own, but I hope you enjoy it! These two characters were fun to write, still trying to put a twist on every character and keep them as short as I can with still telling their story, so hopefully they aren't getting too boring to read! Here it is, please let me know what you think! I also hope you like the district rep, Texie, she's unsual but I think she'd be perfect in this story! (Demiblood22, I made a few changes in Aden's history and things, I hope you don't mind!)**

**Sponsor Question: Are you still following the story? Review this chapter, get a point!**

**District 10 Reaping:**

**Aden Starr:**

"Aden."

Someone had called my name.

"Aden, honey, it's time to get up!" The voice says again, trying to use a hushed tone.

I know it's my mother. And if my mother is waking me up that means my father is already down at the ranch. I'd better hurry. My eyes flicker open and I reach to pull the covers off of myself. My mother is standing in the doorway to my room. She is still in her robes, no doubt planning on waking the girls soon. But there is no more sleeping for me. Reaping day or not, I have to go help my father take care of the cattle. In most districts, work is called off on reaping day. But not in district 10. After all, the cattle don't get a day off of being cattle!

" I'm up. Mother. I'll be down at the ranch in a minute," I whisper to her.

She nods. "And don't forget a coat dear, it's cold out there today," she says as she leaves the room.

I pull myself out of bed as quietly as I can. Being the oldest and only boy in a family of little girls means that I have a room to my own. It's next door to my sisters, so I still have to be quiet not to wake them. I walk over to my dresser and pull out my ranching outfit. They issued me a ranching outfit when I turned twelve and was sorted into the cattle rancher groups. I use it both in my own training, and helping my father out on his ranch. At the age of 12, all children are tested to see if they'd make good ranchers. All the twelve year olds in the school are taken out in groups over the course of 2 weeks, and are given little tests. They only do the questioning to start, something easy. They ask little questions that have no meaning to us, but to them the questions are everything. They monitor our reactions and use the data to decide who would make a good rancher. About ¾ of all the boys make it, and a little under half the girls do. Once they've narrowed us down, they take us off in small groups to do what's known to everyone as the Cattle and Bull test.

The Cattle and Bull test is the one thing that makes the people with real talent stand out. It's a way to spot and the weak ones and discover the strong. The children are first introduced to a herd of cattle. They have everyone approach the animals, and look to see the confidence of every person. They watch to see how everyone interacts with the animals. Then they have a few horses. Anyone who has had riding experience is asked to show off their skills, and if you haven't, they test you out by introducing you to the horses and looking at both your and the horses reactions. They can tell who has potential just from the human-animal interactions.

The next part of the test is the hardest part. The kids are introduced to the bulls. The ranchers at the bull ranch rally the bulls up, and the kids are lined up around the ring the bulls are in. As the bulls kick and buck and run, they look to see how the kids react to the bulls. Some are confident enough that the gate will hold, and are not nervous at all. Others faint or get sick, or start shaking. They want to see who will be able to handle the animals and who can't. Then they take you into the ring, one by one. They set you up on the back of a real rancher's horse and test you out on the horse in the ring. They test out your assertiveness, your alertness, everything you do gives they a clue to your potential.

The kids who make it to the Cattle and Bull test are sent down one of 4 paths. Option one is you are sent back. If you fail the test, they send you back with all of the other kids who didn't pass. Anyone who doesn't go into ranching ends up as delivery truck drivers to haul food to and from stables, composters, or office workers. Group B is a group for anyone who had a lot of potential with horses. They continue to go to regular school until the eighth grade, and then they go to a school that specializes in horses. Depending on how they do, they would end up in the horse industry, either as a ranch owner breeding, raising, and breaking horses, or helping out ranch owners as a stable hand, or they train to become herders. Group C is the group for people who have the most potential with the cattle and bulls. They, too, can end up as ranch owners, breeding, raising, and controlling cattle or bull ranches, or helping out with the animals as stable hands, who help to raise the bulls or help raise the cattle and milk them, or they become slaughter works, who work on preparing meat shipments. The last group, group D, are the people who show potential with all animals. They go to veterinarian schooling and work to keep the cattle and horses healthy. Your training starts early when you live in district 10. Almost no one has a high school education.

I slip on my coat and my hat and make my way out into the kitchen. I grab an apple off the table and rush out the door to find my father. Outside the air is cold and I am glad my mother suggested that I grab my coat. It's just the crack of dawn and the sun has just risen up enough to provide light for me to see by. I rush down across our front lawn and over to the ranch. I can see my father inside gathering up the keys to unlock the stalls. That's the one thing I love about my dad being a ranch owner. Ranch owners are the only people who are given extra land. They have a special section of the district set aside for ranchers, the place where the grass is the greenest and most fertile, and where the forests are cleared. The extra space is meant for the ranchers to use for their ranches. But as a kid, that open field means the most special thing to me in the whole world; freedom. Freedom to do what I want to do; to run, to play, to discover, to live. I wouldn't trade my life or my family for anything.

"Hey son, why don't you go out and close up the fences. We're going to be locking the cattle in the grass ring this morning." My father instructs as I approach the barn.

"Sure thing!" I reply and start a light jog out into the fields.

Ranch sizes depend on your grades in schooling, but even then they start you off with a small herd when you set up your own ranch. Depending on how well you do, the size of your herd and ranch can increase or decrease. My dad has had this ranch for many years, and he's got a natural touch. Our ranch is one of the upper middle sizes. That means I'm going to have a pretty decent run out to close up the gates! But I don't mind, I never do.

Once I've locked up the outer gates that lead to the pastures, I jog back to my dad. He's just finished unlocking the cattle doors, though their still closed off. Most of the cattle do not have their own stalls. They get grouped off into sections. The special stalls are reserved for sick, injured, or pregnant cattle. The cattle are grouped off into indoor group stalls; males, either aggressive or calmer, females, with same type of categories, calves, with a range of ages and their mothers, and elderly cows that are being prepared for slaughtering. My dad tosses me a rope and my herding stick, and we begin to let out sections at a time.

When we leave them unattended, they always go in the arena. There are sections that we herd them into, almost like their indoor stalling areas, though a little less picky. All the males are placed in one section and roped in, all the females in another. Since my dad breeds them, we have to control their breeding. And since the herders can't be out here with their horses all day, we are forced to rope them off into sections. The babies and their mothers are put in the third section of the outdoor arena, and the sick cattle we leave in their stalls; we can't have them spreading diseases to the other cattle! We'll let them out when we get home.

I help my dad herd the last of the cattle into the arena just as a few of our stable hands show up. On reaping day, my father only calls in the best of the staff to handle the jobs. Working under my dad, I know all of them, but there are three of them that our just like family to me. Bill shows up first. He's my dad's right hand man, the only one my father trusts to run the ranch when he can't. Bill rushes on over to my father and they give each other a quick hug.

"Morning, Ferron," Bill says with a smile. "Morning Aden, how's the cattle treatin' ya?" he asks ruffling the hair on my head.

Bill. Everything is so informal with him, it's nice. He's like a brother to my dad, and like an uncle to me. He even joins us for the holidays, having no family of his own.

"Hey Bill, Well that's great, there's a lot to get done around here. Try to get the hands working their fastest today, I want to let them off early so they can have breakfast with their families."

"Will do, I know the routine," Bill says with a grins.

"And promise me you'll keep everyone out of trouble today," my father says, grinning.

Bill nods to him, laughing. "I promise."

In district 10, things are as simple as that. If you make a promise, it's like it's written in stone. You don't break your word. Bill walks off to call out orders to the hands.

Veronica and James are walking up just as Bill leaves. James is shaking his head, chuckling. Bill makes everyone laugh.

"Morning Ferron," James says. "Mighty fine day for cattle herding, huh? I see ol' Aden's been helping out this morning. Gees son, your gonna' be running your own ranch soon if you able to get working that hard so early! He takes after his father doesn't he," he chuckles, giving my dad a slap on the back.

James works the best with the cattle. He can tell when something is wrong with them, and he can get them to move and do whatever he needs them to do so easily. He's got the cattle touch, according to my dad. He's like a cattle whisperer. James tells me I have it to, by the way he sees me interact with the cattle. I don't know if that's true, but he says I'll grow into it. Veronica makes her way slowly up.

"Morning boys," she greets. "Good to see you this morning, looking as healthy as ever," she says. She gives my dad a big hug and gives me one to. "We'll I better get going to take a look at ol' Betsy. You know how she is, due any day now." She says as she heads into the stables.

Veronica is the best with the pregnant and sick cattle. You'd swear she was their mother the way she treats them and the way they look up to her! My dad sends me off to do my chores today. Usually, I have to milk a few cows, clean a few stalls, and help Veronica with some of the sick animals. But with the shortage of stable hands, I have to do a lot more than a few! Even my father is helping out with the dirty work today. My father says the best way to make it to the top is to be the best at everything. He likes to give me that extra practice with my chores. Some days, when we have most of the stable hands, he gives me a break and shows me some cattle ranching tips, and I help out with the managing. I think I'd love to do that one day.

Today, we work until all the work is done. It takes a long time, as it does on any holiday. The sun has risen high into the sky by the time all of the work is done. My father pats me on the back and sends me in to get cleaned up. Inside, my mother is cooking pancakes. I love holidays because we always get extra special treats. I find it hard to break myself away from the scent, but she pushes me away from the table and tells me not to come back until I am all cleaned up. I pass by my sisters on the way up the stairs. They squeal and rush to the opposite side of the steps, huddling away from me like I'm some ferocious monster.

"Eeekk, you smell so bad!" they cry.

I laugh. "Well why don't I come on over and give you a great big hug?" I laugh, stomping slowly over to them, my arms outstretched.

They squeal some more and rush down the steps crying "mom! mom!"

"Aden! Go get cleaned up!" my mother shouts up.

"Ok Ma, I was just having some fun with them," I reply. I wouldn't really do that to them. I love them too much. But I find it funny the way they fear mud and dirt. How they ever ended up daughters of a cattle rancher I have no idea.

I head up to my room and start up a shower. It feels nice to rinse the dirt off my skin and out of my hair. You can actually see streaks of blonde showing through, now that I got all the mud out of my hair. It was a muddy day and the cows were a little fussy, so of course I got muddy, as always. After I dry off, I change into my reaping clothes; a red polo and tan pants. Once I was dressed, I headed downstairs to eat breakfast with my family. My sisters are all at the table with my mom, chattering away. when my dad walks in the door. He greets us, and I can see my mom shaking her head, laughing, because he is covered head to toe in dirt. He goes up to take a quick shower, and makes it down in time to join us for breakfast.

After breakfast, the rest of my family gets ready and then we head to the main square for the reaping. When I get there, I am shown into the 14 year old section. AS I'm walking in, I spot the back of Benete's head. I know it's Benete because he's one of the tallest kids in our grade, so he's not hard to spot!

"Hey man," I say, as I walk over to him.

"Aden! Good to see you," he says with a smile. "So how was helping out with the cattle?" he asks.

"It was hard work,.." I start, a smile creeping on my face,

"…But you enjoyed it." He finishes."Well you better enjoy it cause you gotta build me a big ranch to herd!"

Benete and I made a promise after we took our tests. He went down the path of a horse rider, a cattle herder, and I went down the path of a cattle raiser. We plan that I'll build up the ranch, and he'll herd the cattle, as a partnership. The day we got our results, his mom started crying with joy. Benete's father was a drunkard, and he constantly abused Benete's mother. He was awful to live with, but he was a victor, so no matter what else he did, he did give them a roof over their head and plenty of food. When he was taken to jail and sentenced to death for his crimes, Benete, his 3 younger siblings, and his mom were sent out of victor village and into the Rift, Not only did they go from a nice home to a falling apart shack, but they lost their livelihood. Benete did all he could to help his family, but there wasn't much he could do until he turned 12. Then his only hope would be to get a job, get good schooling, and take out tesserae. The ranch would guarantee both of our family's lives. So I made the promise to start up the ranch with him. And that dream will come true because I never make a promise I know I can't keep. I've been by his side from the time we were first started kindergarten, and I'm not planning on leaving him now.

The reapings started soon, and the mayor told his annual story about the hunger games. After he was done, our district rep, Texie Reshell came up to introduce our mentors. Texie isn't a bad representative when i8t comes down to it. Sure, she's from the Capitol, which bothers most people, but she seems like she's a good person. Naïve and mis-broughtup, but she's got a good heart. She's been our district representative after our old representative retired. She's been here as long as I can remember. Even for having such a low district like ours, she never seems unhappy about it. She seems almost glad, and….grateful. This year, she comes up in a cowgirl themed outfit. She's never flashy or seductive, like most of the mentors. She wears a collared white shirt with gold designs, dark black skinny jeans with brown boots, and a bedazzled dark pink hat. Her hair is long and died white, and when she moves it sparkles different colors. Her big blue eyes are lined with dark black eye liner and painted with mascara and a light shiny gold eye shadow. Her skin is still it's natural color, amazingly. She never seems to care about Capitol fashions.

"Good afternoon, District Nine! Are you ready to get started?" she cries. "let's start by drawing this years mentors."

She reaches her hand into the small reaping ball for district nine. " Ree Kingly and March Nether!" she calls. Ree is young, looking to be about in his late 20's. He has a sly look on his face as he goes up to the stage. It seems as though, he actually doesn't mind being called. I remjeber the year he won, vaugly. He was the kind of guy that everyone felt like they could trust. To the guys, he tried to prove his worth through quick thinking and weaponry. To the girls, he was a protector. Or so these things seemed. When it came down to the arena, he would trick people into alliances, and kill them off. His stragey was amazingly well-thought out, and he managed to make and break alliances with almost everyone in the arena. The last person in the game was a fiery redhead that had been suspicious of him all along. But after saving her life in the final 5, she thought she could trust him. He never expected her to make it to the final two, by the look on his face when they did. She begged him not to, she begged him not to kill her. He made her death quick, but when he came out of the arena he hadn't seemed distressed at Nether was new, she had won at age twelve a long while back. I hadn't seen her Hunger Games, but I had heard she was a very outgoing girl until she was reaped. After she came back, she closed up, never spoke much. I don't know what to expect from her.

Next, Texie walked over to the reaping balls. She alternates who goes first every year. This year is the boy's turn to go first. As she reaches her hand in the ball, I hold my breath. As she announces the name, I let out a gasp.

"Benete Pucket,"

Pain shoots across Benete's face. My heart is racing as I try to interpret things. If he goes to the games, then his family would starve to death if he didn't return. I think about my family. They're well off without me, if I were to die, they would manage. But if Benete went, it meant not only losing him, but losing his family as well. And I wasn't going to let that happen. He's just started moving when I rush out and stop him.

"Aden, no, I'm not going to let you do this," he says sternly, his voice shaking.

"Well I don't care what you want me to do, because you're not going to those games." I reply just as hard.

"Aden," he begins, but I cut him off.

"No, Benete you're family needs you. Just think about them. If you go, they go, too. You've got to let me do this." I say, looking into his eyes.

By the look on this face, he knows I'm right. He looks into my eyes, as if looking to see if I know what I'm getting into. I can't take it, so I turn to make my way to the stage, but he spins me around.

"Just promise me one thing," he whispers.

Texie calls out Benete's name again; we have to be fast.

"Promise me you'll come home," he says.

I just stare back at him. Deep down he knows the truth, and so do I . We both know that while I am strong, my chances are slim. And if he knows that, he knows why I can't make that promise. I stare into his eyes, apologetically.

"Aden, promise, promise!" he cries.

His eyes are shining and his voice is slipping. Texie calls his name for a third time. I turn around to walk away.

"Aden, promise! Promise you'll come home!" he cries, grabbing onto my arm.

"Promise me you'll take care of things around here, I know you'll be a great herder," I say to him, pulling away from his grasp

I make my way to the stage.

"Promise me Aden, promise you'll come home, Aden,.." he cries.

Up on the stage I can see him on the ground by the front of the stage. Tears are streaming down his face. I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I watch him, but I refuse to let them fall. I can't make that promise to him. Because I don't make promises that I know will be broken.

**To be continued…..**


	18. District 10: Part Two

**Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since my last update, with exams andschool and holidays, it's been really crazy. Nevertheless, here's a little Christmas present, and with break, I should be putting out at least another chapter or two in the next couple of weeks! Almost to the next section, thanks for R and Ring, sticking with the story, and have an absolutely wonderful Merry Christmas!**

**Fawna Meadows:**

"Kick, punch, duck, kick, punch, duck," I repeat to myself as I run through this morning's routines with as much force and power as usual. Power, strength, it's a must. Even if I don't get into hand to hand combat, I still need it. I make sure each punch and kick swung at the dummy is packed with enough power to send it flying backwards before it rebounds my attack. It may not be much for practice, but at least it was better than nothing. After a few more hits, I slide my hand quickly down to my backpack, where I kept my whip. With one clean move, I lunge forward, sweeping the whip around and crack it at the dummy. I make it in time to miss the rebound of my latest punch, but only barley. I am forced to leap to the side and dive to the ground beneath the dummy. What a stupid mistake. Instead of leaping back up to fix the drill, I lay where I fell. I know I should be up and continuing my training, I've barely put in 2 and a half hours this morning, and not even a good steady workout. My routines are full of flaws this morning. But I know why. "Don't let it get to you, Fawna, this is just like you planned it, it's just like you planned it," I whisper to myself as I wipe the sweat of my face.

Today is the day I've been waiting for, for almost a year. I can't let my nerves get to my head, not now. If only she were here, I'd have someone to pick me up and tell me it would be ok. But if she was here, I wouldn't be doing this anyways. The thought of her makes me pull myself to my feet again. This time when I stand up, I clench my fists with a new strength. I grab for another one of my weapons and start to attack the dummy even less mercilessly. When I toss my weapon to the side, I once more throw punches and kicks at the dummy. I make each one forceful, grunting with each attack I exalt. Just pretend like it's them; those rats from district four. If only that dummy were them, they'd feel the real wrath of my anger. I'm not going to let them mess with my family. Not me, not again. I'm gonna make them pay; make them pay for what they did. I'm not one for slow deaths, but if I got my hands on one of them, then you'd be sure I'd give the Capitol a good long show.

I continue my exercises longer than usual today. I might as well get as much practice as I can while I'm still here. When I finish, I head back into the house. As I expect, my mother isn't up yet. Of course not, when is she ever up? I clear up some of the clutter that lay on the small kitchen table so that I can pull out some bread to eat. I grab the small tub of margin out of the fridge. It's not much, only about the size of my hand, but I can't afford much. After my father was trampled to death on the ranch, my mother shut down. She doesn't talk much, lies in bed most of the day, some days she doesn't even bother to get up at all. She'd not my mother. Not anymore. Instead of taking care of me and my sister, she shut down. And after,…after what happened, last year... The thought makes me hate District 4 even more. Not only did they take away her, my caretaker, my big sister, Loretta, but they took away everything she had been working for. All she had wanted was to give me a better life. She sacrificed so much for me, she even through he education away to take up extra jobs so she could get me through school, provide us with food, warmth, and shelter. And they had killed her; they had killed her.

After I eat and wash my dishes, I run out to fetch some water from the well so that I could wash the dishes and take a bath. When I get back, I start up a fire in the fire pit so I can heat the water. Then I take some into the bathroom to pour in the tub. Before I hop in, I dig in the special drawer under our washing basin. I feel for the bottle until I feel my hands wrap around it. The bottle is a small container that contains thick pink liquid. Loretta had set aside some of her savings for weeks to get it. She always loved things that smelled good. "See this, Fawna? It's soap. But it's not like the kind we use at home, made here in district ten, no, it's the kind of thing they use in the Capitol. It smells as sweet as the flowers," She had told me. She always liked to save it for special occasions. I guess this counted as one.

After washing up with a little bit of the pink soap, I got out and dried myself off. Then I went into my room to try and dig up a dress I could wear. When the peacekeepers had come to our house to take compensation for our rent in those moths after Loretta had died, my nice dress was the first thing to go. It was one of the only things worth much in the house at all. As I dig, the only I find to wear is my old forest green dress my mother had made for me for my first reaping. I know that it's too small even before I try it on. The sleeves, they're the problem. I can't fit my arms through them any more. I quickly search around my room for a pair of my mom's old scissors. Then I get to work cutting off the sleeves of the dress, and folding down the seem. Then I slip it back on again. It fits. I turn to the mirror that hangs in my room, and shake out my long brown hair. Then I start heading to my mother's room for my next task.

My strength training really comes in handy when I have to get my mother up. She is still lying in bed, a blank expression of her face. I pull her up and dig through her closet, throwing her one of her dresses and demanding that she put it on. After she is dressed, I plate her hair and give her a few touch ups with makeup so her eyes don't seem as red and bloodshot as usual. If the peacekeepers found out that she couldn't take care of me, they'd place me in the orphanage. But I'm not going to be caged up. So I have to keep up my mother's appearance.

When I'm done with my mother, I rush back to my room and grab the anklet off of my dresser. It's silver, with a falcon charm on it. I hold it carefully and slip it onto my ankle;

"well little anklet, I guess it's time I put you on," I tell myself quietly. It was my sister's; she gave it to me before she left for the games. So it's only right I should wear it in.

My mother and I' leave for the square, where I am herded into the group with the rest of the 15 year olds. I spot Rachel and Lisa, staring at me. They exchange glances as I'm placed next to them. After a few odd exchange of looks, Rachel speaks up. "H, h.. Hey Fawna, …good luck today," she stutters. "you too," I say a little uncomfortably. To think last year, they were my life, my best friends. And now I barley know them,. "We all give up things, and I got to get my head in the game. You didn't give it all up for nothing," I have to remind myself mentally. I'm a little edgy when Texie Reshell comes up onto the stage. Unintentionally, I'm blocking out the noise. I've got to get ready for what I'm about to do. I know I know this is it; I know there's no going back. Not today. Even after the boy's tribute is called and all chaos breaks loose, I still can only focus on one thing. Texie reaches her hand into the girls reaping ball and I prepare myself. I've got to win this, I've got to get revenge. And just as the words of the tribute leave Texie's lips, I shout out. "I volunteer!"

When I rush up to the stage, everything really comes together. Everything I've lost has become more evident. My friends, or who were my friends, look up at me with shocked eyes, and not only shocked but sadness. I didn't have time for them, not after my sister died. When I wasn't in school or working, I was training. I look out at the town square and the people I never got to meet. I never really explored our district, there was never a need, and if I didn't need something, I didn't take it. Then I can see my mother, her eyes glazed over as she looks up at me, tears almost ready to spill over. She had shut down after my father died, and even more when Loretta did, but now I was being taken away from her too. They had hurt us, district 4, the Capitol, they had hurt us all. They had killed my family, barricaded me from my friends, hurt my mother, and pushed us into starvation. And I'm going hurt them now. Because I'm not going down without a fight; I'm going to hurt the Capitol, and then I'm gonna kill district 4…..


	19. District 11 both tributes

**Hey everyone, been working on gathering information to lay out the games, so I've almost got the whole plotline finished! Now I've decided to put out another chapter, this one, so Hope you enjoy it! This chapter includes ****Adryana Steel and Drew Niome created by Dramione4evs. Both were very fun characters to work with, and I hope you enjoy their story!( I'm sorry if there's grammar or spelling mistakes, I don't have time to proof it super well, and I know you'd rather get another chapter now with a few mistakes then have to wait another week so I have time to proof it!) Drew's POV is a little short, but we've spent so much time on the reapings I'd like to try and move on as quickly as possible!**

**District 11:**

**Adryana Steel:**

"Adry," I hear someone whisper softly.

I ignore it. I had stayed up late last night, sneaking into gather apples from the fields so we could have supper. Stupid Capitol, stupid tesserae, it had failed to arrive this month, again. I'm beginning to doubt its existence at all, we've barley got half of the rations I signed up for! I am so tired, I must not be thinking straight. The voice is probably my imagination, caused from over drowsiness and hunger. But then it comes again.

"Adry, please wake up," the voice whispers.

I know that voice. My eyes flicker open to find the sweet face of my little brother staring down over me. I shoot up immediately. "Are you ok? Is everything alright? What happened?" I ask quickly. Oh my gosh I hope nothing bad has happened to him. My heart begins to pound faster and faster.

"I had a bad dream," he sniffles.

I let out a sigh of relief. Just a bad dream, only a bad dream. So nothing had happened to him, except for an over-imaginative imagination. "Oh honey, it's ok. Come on up here," I reply softly scooping him up into my arms. He clings to me as if I can save him from the darkness of the night. I hug him back, reassuringly.

"Adry, can I stay here, with you? I'll be quiet, I promise!" Ben exclaims.

"Alright," I sigh, scooting over and let him snuggle up by my side, "But just for tonight."

I have a little trouble falling back to sleep. Instead I watch Ben as he sleeps. He's so good, so innocent, this isn't the life for him. He needs a mother, but the mother he got didn't deserve him. I could care less that she left me, but leaving Ben, that was so wrong. Ben looked up to her so much, he loved her. And just because she couldn't get along with our father, she had to leave. She had to leave him, but she also left us. Now I'm the closet thing that Ben's got to a mother. And that, that makes me angry; angry because he deserves better than me. He deserves someone who can hold his hand as he walks to school, someone who can buy him sweet treats and candy on his birthday, someone who can help him with his homework and always knows exactly what to ay when he is angry, or upset, or hurt. He deserves better than a working, c average, teenager.

I lie awake thinking about her, what memories I have of my mother. Yes, I despise her, but she was my mother. I'm not naive enough to believe that she loved us, or that she will come back, but there is a part of me, however small, that hopes she will. My father was never the same when she left. He turned from a cheery, wholehearted, loving father, to a zombie. Drugs, that's what got him. He started with only a little bit, to kill the pain, but soon our grocery money was disappearing, and my work money from my afterschool job went soon after that, and my dad fell more and more into his zombie-fied state, until we lost him completely. That's when I had to take up the extra jobs, and hide my money, sign up for tesserae, so we could live, at least to the extent of eating, sleeping, and breathing.

When I finally get to sleep, I sleep peacefully. But, my tiredness has really taken over, because when I wake up, I realize it's almost time to go to the reaping. I slip out of my bed and rush into the kitchen to make some breakfast. I grab two of the apples I swiped last night and chop them up and slip them into a small bowl. Then I grab the honey I had gathered a few days ago from the woods, and toss in a few spices I had bought from the town square. A few more precious ingredients, and I've got something special; apple butter. It may have meant extra hours at work, but I couldn't feed Ben the usual dried bread and plums for breakfast today. After all, it is his birthday.

I set the butter on the table along with three of our best rolls. Then I pour us a few cups of water from our water bucket. His present, I couldn't forget his present. I rush back into my room to find him starting to wake up. I rush behind my bed and quickly scoop up his gifts. My first is a small rock I had beaten and grinded into a ball for him to roll around. The last gift I bought was cheap, I bought it as a fix-me-up toy. It was a tiny rocking horse, about half the size of my palm, and it was made out of wood. Half of the rocker had been missing, the paint was peeling, and it was missing fur and one of its eyes when it came to me. But after using a little straw and some die, not to mention a few sticks and some glue, it made a pretty good toy.

"Good morning, birthday boy," I gushed as he finally sat up. "I hope your hungry, I made you something special," I tell him. I can see his eyes light up at that statement, and he rushes out of bed and into the kitchen. When he sees the bread and apple butter on the table, he squeals with delight and gives me a great big hug as I butter a roll for him. After we are done eating, I give him his gifts. While he is playing with them, I grab a roll and a little swipe of butter for it, and head into my dad's room. When I get in there, I find him sitting on his bed, staring at the wall. I set his roll down by his side, and walk out. I don't know if he'll eat it, but at least it's there.

After I get Ben calmed down, I take him to his room and get him dressed into his reaping clothes. I run my comb through his hair, and wipe the remains of jelly off his face. "There you go, now you look very handsome," I tell him with a smile. "I'll be right back; I'm going to go get dressed."

I rush into my room to grab my clothes. They were my moms, but she had left them behind. I have to wear them; they are the only nice clothes for me in the house. I slip on the blue skirt and white blouse, and find my government-issued boots. They are supposed to be for the summer when everyone is pulled out of school to work in the fields, but I don't have anything else to wear year round, so I wear them. They are a little rugged and torn, but they are shoes, more or less. I run a comb through my hair and run back into Ben's room. It was time to leave for the reaping.

We have to leave my dad behind, again. The peacekeepers either never notice, or don't care that he isn't there. Either way, there's no way we can get him to the square ourselves. I grab Ben's hand and lead him as far as I can, to the gate. Then we have to wait for Jessica's family. Ben is only 6, he isn't in the reapings yet, but he can't go stand by himself to watch. He could be taken to the orphanage, if they found out about my dad. Jessica, my best friend, has helped tremendously. Her mother takes Ben with her on reaping day and watches him for me. It's a really nice thing to do; she's already got her hands full with 7 little children to watch. Her husband had left, too, just like my mother had. Jessica is all the help she has.

It's not long before I spot them walking up the street. I squat down next to Ben so I can say goodbye.

"Ok Ben, I've got to go into my section, but Mrs. Wilde is going to take you into the square, alright?" I whisper.

He nods and gives me another big hug.

"It's ok, I'll be back soon," I tell him. Then I hand him off to Mrs. Wilde, and Jessica and I head of f into our section.

"Tell your mom thanks again for taking him," I tell her.

"It's ok, she understands," Jess assures me.

There's a worried look on her face, I know what it is. "Jess, hey, what's wrong?" I ask sympathetically.

"nothing, I'm just a little worried, about the reaping, an m family, and.." she says.

I know exactly what she means. Her mom can't support all of her children alone, Jess has to work just as hard as I do to keep everyone fed. If Jess were to get sent to the Hunger Games, it would mean her family would suffer and starve. Jess isn't foolish enough to think she has a chance in the Games, she's artistic, not athletic, she wouldn't make it far. And the odds aren't perfect against her either. Just like me, she's had to take out tesserae, but just like me she's hoping we'll be safe for another year.

The reaping begins soon, starting with our mayor introducing the story of the Hunger Games. After that, he introduces our district rep, Glitter Sparks. Glitter is new this year. She also looks like one of the youngest district representatives ever introduced to the games, looking only about 20 years old. Her hair is long and bleach blonde, and covered in pink, purple, and gold glitter. Her skin is dyed tan, and is, like her hair, covered in glitter. Her eyes are purple, and they are outlined with gold eyes liner. Her blush is bright, and her lipstick, a deep red. She is wearing a pink halter top and a platinum mini skirt. She hobbles up to the stage in her ridiculously tall high heels, and heads straight for the microphone to introduce our district mentor.

"Good morning district 11! We're going to start a little unusual this year. We usually begin with the drawing of the mentors, but since two of your victors passed away last year, there is only one victor left. So we will begin by inviting him to the stage. District 11, put your hands together for Alec Trask!" she cries

Alec walks up through the crowd and onto the stage. That's when I finally get a good look at him. He looks young, almost my age, and he's completely gorgeous. His hair is shaggy and blonde, and he is tall, tan , and muscular. His eyes are a deep ocean blue, and he has this whole vibe about himself, that is completely irrisitable.

I snap back to myself when Glitter says she will draw the girl's name out. This is it. I turn to jess and we hold each others hands and our breath as the girl's name is drawn out of the ball.

"Jessica Wilde!"

Jess immediately drops my hand, and turns as white as a sheet. Tears are rolling down her face as she looks around, hoping it's a mistake. She can't go up there, she can't go to the games. Not with her family depending on her. If I were to go in her place,… Her mother could take in Ben, he'd have a home, a mother, a good one at that, and I might have a fighting chance to change our lives. I've got to do it. So I push her out of the way and run up to the stage before she can protest.

"My name is Adryana Steel," I pant. "And I volunteer."

**Drew Niome:**

I can't help but to wake up early this morning. 7 a.m. and I'm already up, as always. I can never seem to adjust well to weekends, not when I recently started working full time in the mills. 7 am and we've got to be up; it's a door die thing for us as workers. The last thing you want to do is make a peacekeeper mad. Since I am awake, I can hear my mother crying in the other room. Of course she would be today. Today is the reaping. Five years ago, my sister was taken to the hunger Games and killed. It was our first reaping. Our mother was carefree and worriless just like our father. What was there to worry about? It was our first reaping; we had no tesserae. All odds were against her, and yet, she was reaped. And she was killed.

I decide to go into the kitchen to takeout some cereal. My mother won't be u to cook the breakfast this morning, so I decide to take some food to their room. After fixing a tray of food, I creep up the stairs and into their room. My mother is lying on the bed, curled up by my father, her eyes red and her face splotchy.

"I made you some…" I begin softly, but decide not to disturb them. Instead I just set the tray onto the table and walk out of the room, closing the door behind me.

I decide to go back to bed until a little before the reaping, even though I know it's pointless. I lie in bed thinking; about everything in general; my parents, my girlfriend, Kacey, the Hunger Games…..

I decide to get up after a while and get dressed for the reaping, slipping on my black slacks, Blue collar shirt, black tie, and black shoes. After I am dressed, I head into my parents room. My mother and father are up, and almost ready to leave. My mother hardly has any traces of crying about her. I know she's doing it for me. She knows it hurt me too, to loose my twin, and she tries her best to stay strong for me.

It isn't long before me make it to the square. I am pushed into the 17 year old section, after a hasty goodbye to my parents. Then I wait for the reaping to begin. It's strange really, the whole thing reminds me of my sister's reaping. To think we stood here, in the very same square together, while our mayor read off the story of the Hunger Games. The mentor is new this year, and we only have one mentor, but it doesn't matter. It still feels like her reaping day.

The boys reaping begins too quickly, and our district rep is pulling out the name of the next tribute. I don't have any worry; it's not going to be me. As the name escapes her lips, I realize I was right. It isn't me. The boy's tribute is young, he walks up to the stage from the twelve year old section. It's tough to pull him up, there is a little girl clinging onto his arm, trying to keep him there with her. His sister, I realize, as I see the resemblance between the two. His twin. My eyes flicker back and forth from him, to his sister, to his crying parents. The longer I look, the more I realize, I can't let them do this. I can't let them tear apart another family. And the more similarities I find between this reaping and my sister's, the more I realize I have to do this. So I walk through the crowds and up to the stage to take his place as a volunteer. The send the boy back to his sister in the crowds, and they hug and cry with relief. Then the little girl looks up to me. He black hair is long and wavy, and her gray eyes are filled with tears of joy. She looks up at me and smiles, a smile that looks so bright and so familiar, it's as if my own sister is smiling up at me. At that moment I know that somehow, this is what I was meant to do. That somehow, even though I couldn't volunteer to take my sister's place, I have saved her, at least in memory by saving this boy, and their family.


	20. DistrictTwelve: Part One

**Hey everyone, **I'm so sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Writing time is limited, and I recently had a breakthrough with one of my own original creations, and it's been taking up a lot of my time. Planning on a 300-400 pages, a 4 book series (look for little tidbits I might be posting up on my username is Dreamwriter116, they'll only be tidbits since I plan to actually publish this one!), but now that I got a good start on the first book of that, I'm back and putting out another chapter. I really appreciate all of your reviews, they keep me motivated! (a special thanks to Ali for catching my attention with that second comment that emailed me, gave me that little reminding push I needed!) LOL so enough with my chitterchatter, here's the rundown: This chapter features Shiloh Porter created by TheRescuer2 and Katherine Cassidy created by kattywriter111. I'm sorry if this sounds a little rusty, I'm still trying to get back into the swing of writing fanfiction! Both tributes were fun to write, I especially loved the background work I was able to do with Shiloh! Constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated, and a little reminder that if you want to sponsor a tribute (in case you don't have one) then goes to Chapter 4: SPONSOR OPP and follow the process there!

_**Sponser Question: Ok, this one is a fun one! As some of you might know, the Hunger Games is suppose to be hitting the big screen in the next year or two! Who do you think should play Katiness? Gale? Peeta? Rue? Haymitch? **_**Worth 2 SP!**

**My picks:** (I based them on looks in pictures I found!): **Katiness**- an unknown **Gale**-Ben Barnes ** Peeta**- Michael Welch **Rue**-Ariel Winters **Haymitch **(my fav match up!)- Hugh Laurie

**DISTRICT 12 PART ONE:**

**Shiloh Porter:**

I remember that day like it was yesterday. That morning had been no different from any of the mornings that had preceded it. It was a cold, rainy, damp day, like most days in the fall of our district. Though the outside may have been dreary and lifeless, my morning had been anything but. I woke up early that morning, so I could see my father before he left for work. After all, what boy doesn't want to see his father on his 13th birthday? It was the day I had been waiting for all year. My father had promised that when I turned 13, he would take me out hunting. He had wanted to take me at a younger age, but my mother had vetoed that. She was worried about how I would handle something so,…touchy,…in our district. They finally settled on 13. We agreed to go out at night, because it would be easier to sneak through the fence; the peacekeepers have been keeping too close a watch on it over the fence in the mornings of the past year.

When I awoke on that morning, I immediately ran into my parent's bedroom, and begin to shake them awake.

"Good morning, Shiloh," my mother says sleepily through a yawn as she pulls herself up.

My father pulls himself off of the bed and ruffles my hair. "What do you say we let your mother start the breakfast while we go get your brother and sister up?" he asks me.

I nod and we split up the tasks of getting up the family. My father heads into my room to wake up my little brother, Parker, while I head for my sister, Anneliese's, room.

"Hey, it's time to get up!"I say, shaking her arm a little bit.

She groans and slumps deeper into her pillow.

"Ann, you gotta get up!" I tell her again, a small smile breaking out on my face. Ann looks so funny when she sleeps; it's hard to take her seriously!

"Go away, twerp, I'm sleeping," she says grumpily.

"But it's my birthday, you gotta get up," I coo in a sweet, innocent tone.

"So your another year older, it still doesn't matter. Cause' I'm still 5 years older than you," she snorts, "You can't make me do anything."

I chuckle shake my head. Sometimes Ann can be so pigheaded! But you don't live with someone for thirteen years without learning a few things about them. And of course I had learned many of Ann's weaknesses. I reach for the covers and yank them right off from on top of her. This gets a reaction. Within seconds, she's up and lunging for me. I laugh and roll out of the way, her blanket still tightly in my grip as she tries to wrestle me to the ground.

"Is everything ok in there?" my father shouts to us."Your mother's almost got breakfast on the table if you want to eat!"

There's only one greater weakness Ann holds over her blankets, and that's food. With a growl, she gets up off the ground and pushes her hair back into place.

"We'll finish this later," she says.

I hold back a laugh, knowing she's only bluffing and that she'll cool down later. I happily tread behind her out to the table. When I get into our kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs hits me. It smells soooo good; it makes me realize how hungry I really am. I take me place at the table besides my little brother as my mother piles the food on my plate. I try to savor the taste, but I'm too hungry, so the food is gone off my plate as quickly as it was put on. As I lick the last of the grease off of my fingers, my father and mother stare at me with the gleam showing in their eyes.

"Shiloh," my father begins, glancing at my mother," we'd like to give you something for your birthday."

"Keep in mind, if you don't act responsibly, we will take it away," my mother adds in a warning tone.

I'm practically bursting from excitement as my mother goes to close the blinds to our house and my father heads to the back room. I'm forced to close my eyes until they reenter the room, upon which they place a large, smooth, curved object in my hand. As I open my eyes, I find this object is a wooden bow, crafted by my father.

"Oh wow! Thank you so much! This is amazing," I exclaim, scarcely believing my eyes. The woodwork is detailed, as only my father can do, the string tight, and all in all, it's perfect. My mother and father smile at me, looking pleased.

"Why don't I take you out tonight and I can show you how to shoot it," my father says proudly.

I nod and rush over to give him a hug. Finally, I can learn how to hunt.

"Happy birthday, son," he says squeezing me tightly.

We put my bow away safely in the back room and my father heads into his room to get dressed into work clothes. Soon he comes back out to say goodbye.

"I'll see you later, kiddo," he says as he walks through the door, on his way to work.

The day seemed to drag on forever. School felt like it would never end. I couldn't even focus on my class work; all I could do was daydream about hunting with my father. The end of the school day couldn't come soon enough. I raced home that day, hoping to find my father had gotten off work early that day. He hadn't. When 5 o clock rolled around, I could scarcely sit still. I kept my nose pressed against the window, scanning the yards in anticipation for my father. My mother had to pry me away from the window for dinner, although I was too excited to eat.

When 6 o clock hit, my excitement turned to worry. My father was always home by five. What could be holding him up?

"Oh don't worry, they probably had him work late today, so they can meet the coal quota for the month," my mother reassures me, though by the look on her face, I know she doesn't believe it one bit.

By seven, our house is completely silent. My siblings and I sit in front of a board game, though none of us our really paying any attention to it, while my mother pretends to be busy with the chores. Father is still not home. As the sun begins to set, we finally hear a knock on the door. I run over to it as fast as I can, but when I open the door, it's not my father. A tall, burly-looking peacekeeper stands in our doorway, his face expressionless.

At first I begin to panic that somehow they found out about my bow. Could they see through the shades this morning? But the man asks to see my mother, and my mom shoos me away from the door while she talks to the man. I wait for her to come back, to tell me it was a false alarm, but what she does say is way different from what I expected.

"Come on, children. Ann, Parker, Shiloh, dear, grab your coats. We're heading to the town square."

I rush on over to her as she walks to get her coat on. "Mom, what happened?" I ask.

"Nothing sweetheart, just get your coat," she replies, her eyes looking distant.

"Mother, I'm old enough to tell that you're lying, so tell me what happened" I protest sternly.

"Shiloh, get on your coat right now," she says, ignoring my question.

"Mom, what's going on? Tell me!" I demand, not moving an inch from my spot.

"There's been a mining accident!" she blurts out. "Now hurry, we need to get to the square!"

Everything after happened in the blink of an eye. My mother rushed me and my siblings to the town square, where the rest of the crowds of familys sit. There's so much commotion, and the air smells like smoke. I remember seeing paramedics escorting injured miners into the square from the road that lead to the mines. There's so many people, so much shouting and crying, it's impossible to hear anything that's being said by the mayor. All I can do is stare at the road, waiting. He's got to be coming. Any minuet I'm going to see my father's familiar face looking back at me as he comes up the road, in prefect condition, explaining he had been out on lunch break when it all happened.

As time passed, my thoughts grew less optimistic. He would be coming. He would walk out here any minuet, with the help of a paramedic, and give us a big smile, reassuring us that he was ok. More time passed. He had to be in the mines still. He must be really injured, and they have to wait for a cot to lift him up 'll be coming any minute. We waited in the cold for what felt like hours, and maybe it was, for my father. A kind elderly lady offered my mother her blanket for us to use to keep warm. The numbers of miners coming down the street slimmed. As people in the square left, it began to feel empty again. Finally, my mother gets up and walks over to one of the peacekeepers guarding the road to the mine. After a few minuets, she came back, tears filling her eyes.

"Come on," she whispered. "We're going home."

She takes Parker's hand in hers and gives Ann a little nudge forward, holding her hand out to mine.

"Where's dad? We have to wait for him," I protest. "He's coming home, too."

A tear rolls down my mother's check.

"Shiloh, your father's not coming home." She says softly.

The truth hits me like a gust of cold wind. And as my mother takes my hand, a million thoughts run through my head. The bow still lies on my dresser; the bow m father will never get to teach me how to use. His smiling face, that seemed so happy at breakfast this morning, and finally, his last words to me that he said as he headed out the door, 'I'll see you later, kiddo.' But he never would.

When the crack of dawn hits, I'm up and out of my bed, getting dressed. By the time the sun begins to poke up into the sky, I'm out of the house and on my way to the fence. It's fairly easy to get over, since it's never electrified anymore. In the woods, I wait for the animals. My movements this morning are quick, smooth, and emotionless. I gather my kills and hid my bow back in the tree before wriggling back under the fence and making my way home. It's been almost a year since the mining accident.

When I get in the door, my sister is already slicing up the cheese for our breakfast. I nod good morning to her and wordlessly join her at our counter to skin the animals. No more 'crazy wake up calls' anymore. When breakfast is ready, she goes to wake up parker and I take care of setting the table.

"Morning, Parker," I greet as he comes out to the table.

We keep up small talk, about school and work until everyone is finished. After that, my sister takes breakfast in to our mom. Our mother faded away after our father's death. My sister's had to become the woman of the household, and I have to provide for us since our mother stopped working. But not toady. Today is the reaping.

I slide on my tan pants and button up my blue shirt. Then I walk over to my dresser and grab the watch that's lying on it. I hold it in my hand for a minute. The watch face is shiny and trimmed with fools gold. The band is real leather, and adjusts to my wrist so it's only slightly big. On the back is the initials O. P. Oliver Porter. My father. It used to be his watch, but now it's my most prized possession.

When I'm ready for the reaping, I tell my sister and my brother. They wish me luck and agree to catch up with me later.

I make my way to the square to meet up with my friends. It's my first reaping today, so I'm a little nervous.

"Don't worry, Shiloh, the chances of you being picked are so slim, even with your tesserae," Ace points out encouragingly. "Don't worry, I've done this before, you won't get picked."

Ace is 14 and a mega genius, well, at least he thinks so. He likes to try and make me feel better, and it makes me smile.

"And don't worry, even if you are picked, they'll have to go through me to get to ya," Rocky adds.

This is Rocky's first year in the reapings, too. He's large and muscular for his age. His real name is Ralphaird, but he acts so tough, me and Ace like to call him Rocky.

We don't have to wait long for the reapings to being. After a long explanation from the mayor, our district representative takes the stage. As Effie takes the stage, all eyes are glued on her. After the phenomenal game played by Katiness and Peeta last year, everyone certainly is paying close attention to her. This year, she has her hair dyed a flaming red, no doubt to bring back memories of last year's game. Her dress is long and black, with sparkles of red and gold coming up the sides in a flame like pattern. Her heels are higher than last year, if that's even possible. Ace and Rocky try to keep from laughing at her funny voice as she introduces our mentors, Katiness and Peeta. They come up the stage, hand in hand. Peeta's got a warm smile on his face, whispering what I imagine to be a few words of encouragement to Katiness. Katiness, of course, looks as sullen as ever. And Haymitch, he stumbles up on the stage as drunk as usual.

Now my palms start to sweat as Effie heads on over to the boys reaping ball to draw out the name. Only 4 slips say Shiloh Porter on them. Ace's right, I should be safe. I begin to relax as she draws out the slip. But once she reads the name, I know I'm a goner.

"Shiloh Porter"


End file.
